Asymmetric Dearomative Fluorination of 2-Naphthols with Dicarboxylate Phase-Transfer Catalyst.

: A linked dicarboxylate phase-transfer catalyst enables smooth asymmetric dearomative fluorination of 2-naphthols with Selectfluor under mild conditions to give the corresponding 1-fluoronaphthalenone derivatives in a highly enantioselective manner. This reaction, which is compatible with various functional groups, is the first example of catalytic asymmetric fluorination of 2-naphthols, and is expected to be useful in the synthesis of bioactive molecules.