• Alkylating agent for introduction of the trifluoroethyl group.
• Metallation by LDA leads to 2,2-difluoro-1-tosyloxyvinyllithium, which adds quantitatively to carbonyl groups. Acid hydrolysis leads to ɑ-tosyloxy acrylates, which can be hydrolyzed to ɑ-keto acids by base: Tetrahedron Lett., 4809 (1978):
• n-BuLi at -78o has also been used by Ichikawa's group to generate the vinyllithium intermediate, which undergoes boron or copper mediated reactions yielding 2,2-difluorovinyl ketones and other products. See, e.g.: Tetrahedron Lett., 33, 337 (1992); Tetrahedron, 50, 11637 (1994); J. Org. Chem., 60, 2320 (1995).