New Entries toward 3,3-Difluoropiperidines

Difluoropiperidines attract considerable interest from organic and medicinal chemists, but their synthesis is often problematic. This paper describes a new synthetic pathway toward valuable 3,3-difluoropiperidines starting from suitable δ-chloro-α,α-difluoroimines. The latter imines can be synthesized via electrophilic fluorination of the corresponding δ-chloroimines using NFSI (N-fluorodibenzenesulfonimide) in acetonitrile. After hydride reduction of the imino bond and subsequent intramolecular substitution of the chloride atom, new 3,3-difluoropiperidines were obtained in good yields. In addition, this methodology was applied to establish the first synthesis of N-protected 3,3-difluoropipecolic acid, a new fluorinated amino acid.