Large-Scale Cyclopropanation of Butyl Acrylate with Difluorocarbene and Classical Resolution of a Key Fluorinated Building Block

To address challenges in the preparation of a key building block containing a difluorocyclopropane moiety, we have developed a new protocol for difluorocarbene generation that relies on a Krapcho-type dealkylation of ethyl bromodifluoroacetate (EBDFA), an inexpensive and readily available fluorinated feedstock. Application of DoE and kinetic modeling was used to understand key reaction parameters and identify an optimal process. We report two variants of this procedure that offer different processing advantages and that have both been scaled successfully multiple times to deliver hundreds of kilograms of the resulting difluorocyclopropane. To access a single enantiomer of the target compound, we have also developed a classical resolution strategy and recycling protocol for the undesired enantiomer to replace previous chromatographic methods for separation.