Photoredox-Catalyzed Cascade Difluoroalkylation and Intramolecular Cyclization for Construction of Fluorinated γ-Butyrolactones

A cascade visible-light photocatalytic difluoroalkylation and intramolecular cyclization reaction has been developed for the synthesis of difluoroalkylated oxygen heterocycles. The reaction was carried out under very mild conditions, affording fluorinated isobenzofuran-1-ones, lactone, and cyclic ethers with up to 97% chemical yields. Furthermore, several types of bromofluoroalkane precursors bearing ester, keto, amido, and phosphate groups could all work very well in this reaction, which provides an easy method for the preparation of functionalized difluoroalkylated oxygen heterocycles.