Functional Hexafluoroisopropyl Group Used in the Construction of Biologically Important Pyrimidine Derivatives

A series of versatile 4-((1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoropropan-2-yl)oxy)pyridine intermediates have been developed to efficiently produce biaryls, amines, ethers, and thioethers. These hydrolysis-stable ether intermediates exhibit reactivity toward electron-donating groups and nucleophiles in cross-coupling and nucleophilic substitution reactions while surpassing the stability of corresponding aryl halides. In comparison to conventional coupling methods, this protocol offers an alternative pathway for accessing natural product and drug-like compounds without the need for metal catalysts. With assistance of this approach, we successfully obtained a potent P-glycoprotein inhibitor <b>4k</b> (YS-370), a potent epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitor <b>4l</b> (YS-363), and a promising lysine-specific demethylase 1 inhibitor <b>5g</b>.