Iron-catalyzed decarboxylative and oxidative decarbonylative cross-coupling: a new strategy for the synthesis of monofluoroalkenes

Herein, an iron( ii )-catalyzed decarboxylative and oxidative decarbonylative cross-coupling of α-fluoro cinnamic acids with aliphatic aldehydes is presented. This methodology provided a novel and practical strategy for the construction of monofluoroalkenes from abundant and readily available aliphatic aldehydes, which are key functional groups in used in synthetic transformations in the pharmaceutical and agrochemical sciences. A series of α-fluoro cinnamic acids and aliphatic aldehydes were shown to be suitable reaction substrates and delivered the desired products with excellent Z -stereoselectivity in moderate to high yields.