Regio- and stereoselective reactions of gem-difluorinated vinyloxiranes with heteronucleophiles

Reaction: see text]. Regio- and stereoselectivity in reactions of gem-difluorinated vinyloxiranes with heteronucleophiles were successfully controlled. Halogen atoms were introduced regioselectively at the allylic epoxide carbon with an inversion in stereochemistry using MgBr2*Et2O or Li2CuCl4 to produce anti-vic-halohydrine. The other diastereomers were obtained selectively using LiBr/AcOH or BCl3, and SN2' type products were formed selectively with excellent E preference by changing the reaction temperature. Moreover, a further investigation led us to find that a regio- and stereoselective SN2' addition of several Brnsted acids was dependent on the pKa values of the acids. Under strong acidic conditions, we exclusively obtained E allylic alcohols.