New synthetic approaches toward OCF3-containing compounds

Fluorinated organic compounds are an important class of organic molecules and play a key role in both academic and industrial communities due to the unique nature of fluorine. Among the fluorine-containing functional groups, the OCF3 group is of vital importance because of its favorable physicochemical properties, so it frequently acts as the pivotal skeletal motif in a broad spectrum of pharmaceutical molecules, agrochemicals, natural products, and materials. Over the past few decades, a wider range of strategies for the efficient, versatile, and practical synthesis of trifluoromethoxylated compounds have been the focus of a number of research initiatives. These synthesis approaches are especially fascinating in the context of the design of agrochemicals and new drugs as established pathways for installing the OCF3 moiety. In this review, the state of the art of the synthesis of OCF3-containing compounds is summarized. It can be segmented into six categories: (1) de novo formation of the OCF3 group; (2) construction of trifluoromethoxylated compounds via trifluoromethylation of the corresponding alcohol or phenol; (3) construction of trifluoromethoxylated compounds via installing the entire OCF3 group straightaway onto a complex molecule; (4) visible-light-induced trifluoromethoxylation; (5) transition metal-catalyzed trifluoromethoxylation; and (6) construction of the trifluoromethoxylated compounds via rearrangement reactions.