Nucleophilic trifluoromethylation

Patent Granted In nucleophilic trifluoromethylation the active species is the CF3− anion.[50] In itself this anion is very unstable and collapses into a fluoride anion and difluorocarbene. The trifluoromethyl anion can be stabilized by removing electron density from the carbon atom for example by coordination to a metal like copper[51][52] or by creating a sigma bond to tin or silicon. Ruppert's reagent Me3SiCF3 is based on this last principle.