Reactions of Organic Compounds with Xenon Fluorides

Xenon fluorides, especially XeF2 and the intercalates of XeF4 and XeF6 in graphite, react with a broad range of aromatic compounds to provide a convenient direct route to fluoroaromatic compounds, many of which are otherwise difficult to prepare. Some of the products are of medicinal and biological interest. Highly colored radical cations are generated in the reactions by one-electron oxidation. XeF2 also serves as a useful source of fluorine by reacting readily with carbon-carbon double and triple bonds to yield difluoro- and tetrafluoro- addition products, as well as products resulting from rearrangements (especially in the case of norbornene).