Theoretical study on the fluorination of benzene with N-Fluoropyridinium salts in acetonitrile solution

The prominent roles of organofluorine compounds in various fields have aroused considerable interest in the development of new methods for carbon-fluorine bond formation. Electrophilic fluorination receives much attention. Density functional theory (DFT) was used to theoretically explore the fluorination activity of 12 N-Fluoropyridinium salts on the substrate of benzene in acetonitrile solution. Geometry optimizations and frequency calculations of the reactants, transition states, and products were performed at B3LYP/6-311G(d,p) level for the 12 fluorination reaction channels. Based on the optimized structure, all the stationary points have been corrected by the single point energy at a high-level of M06-2x/6-311++G (d,p). Four substituents were considered in this paper, they are nitro-, cyano-, chloro-, methoxy-, respectively. Three substituted sites (ortho-, meso-, para-) were also concluded. Based on the obtained potential energy surfaces information and analysis of substituent effect, the fluorination reaction channel of oNO₂NFpyr is most efficient due to the lowest reaction energy barrier; therefore, oNO₂NFpyr is a promising optimum fluorinating reagent among the studied 12 N-Fluoropyridinium salts.