Tetrafluoroboric acid → 4-Fluoro-1H-indazole

Participants

Reaction Conditions

Reaction Steps

To tetrafluoroboric acid (8.2 ml, 48 wt % in water) was added 3-fluoro-2-methylaniline (2.27 ml). The mixture was cooled to 0° C. when a precipitate formed which was redissolved by the addition of water (8 ml). A solution of sodium nitrite (1.38 g) in water (2.7 ml) was then added dropwise and the mixture was then allowed to warm to ambient temperature and then stirred for a further 1 hour. The precipitated solid was filtered, then washed with diethyl ether, and then dried under suction for 30 minutes. The resulting tetrafluoroborate salt was added to a suspension of potassium acetate (3.92 g) and 18-crown-6 (0.264 g) in chloroform (45 ml). After stirring for 3 hours at ambient temperature the bright orange mixture was filtered and the insoluble material was washed with dichloromethane, then subjected to flash column chromatography on silica eluting with a mixture of 40/60 petrol and ethyl acetate (3:1 v/v) to give 4-fluoro-1H-indazole (0.675 g) as an off-white solid. LC-MS (METHOD B): RT=2.70 minutes; 137 (M+H)+.

Provenance & Evidence