N-Perfluoroalkylsulfonylimido derivatives of arenecarboxylic acid amides and their oxidative aza Hofmann rearrangement

The analogues of carboxamides in which the sp²-hybridized oxygen atom is replaced by more electron-withdrawing groups, NSO₂CF₃ and NSO₂C₄F₉, have been synthesized. The resulting N-perfluoroalkylsulfonyl arenecarboxamidines ArC(NSO₂R_f)NH₂ (R_f = CF₃, C₄F₉) undergo an oxidative Hofmann-type rearrangement to the corresponding carbodiimides ArNCNSO₂R_f under the action of (diacyloxyiodo)arenes. Rearrangement of related compounds ArC(NSO₂R)NH₂ (R = CH₃, Ph) containing fluorine-free substituents at the sulfonyl group also occurs in similar conditions. It was found that the reactivity of amidines rises with the increasing electron-withdrawing ability of the substituent R.