Friedel–Crafts Fluoroacetylation of Indoles with Fluorinated Acetic Acids for the Synthesis of Fluoromethyl Indol-3-yl Ketones under Catalyst- and Additive-Free Conditions

A simple and efficient protocol for the fluoroacetylation of indoles is reported. The reaction uses fluorinated acetic acids as the fluoroacetylation reagents to synthesize diverse fluoromethyl indol-3-yl ketones in good yields under catalyst- and additive-free conditions. In addition, the only byproduct is water in this transformation. The synthetic utility of this reaction was also demonstrated by the concise synthesis of α-(trifluoromethyl)(indol-3-yl)methanol and indole-3-carboxylic acid.