Practical Access to Difluoromethyl Ketones via Straightforward Decarboxylative Difluorination of β-Ketoacids

A facile synthetic approach to a series of difluoromethyl ketones from β-ketoacids has been described. This transformation is achieved through the straightforward decarboxylative difluorination of β-ketoacids in the absence of any catalyst. Furthermore, the resulted difluoromethyl ketones can be easily converted into corresponding difluoromethylated building blocks for pharmaceuticals and materials.