Defluorinative Coupling of Trifluoromethyl Arenes via Consecutive Photoinduced Electron Transfer

Abstract

A visible-light-induced selective defluorinative cyclization reaction of quinazolinones bearing unactivated alkene moieties with a variety of trifluoromethylarenes is reported. This protocol features mild reaction conditions and exhibits broad substrate compatibility, accommodating diverse unactivated alkenes as well as electron-deficient trifluoromethylarenes, thus enabling the efficient construction of difluorinated quinazolinone derivatives. Mechanistic investigations reveal that the transformation proceeds through a consecutive photoinduced electron transfer (ConPET) pathway, which is crucial for overcoming the thermodynamic barrier associated with C–F bond activation under visible-light irradiation.