α-fluorination of ketones by xenon and iodobenzene difluorides: A stereochemical evidence demonstrating their mechanistic differences

Xenon difluoride reacts smootlhy with various steroid silyl enol ethers in the absence of any acid catalyst to afford stereoselectively α-oriented α-fluoroketones in good yields while iodotoluene difluoride reacts rather sluggishly with these silyl enol ethers to competitively produce β-oriented α-fluoro ketones, elimination and other nucleophilic substitution products. The observed stereochemical contrast clearly suggests an electrophilic and nucleophilic mechanism for these reactions, respectively.