Hydrodifluoromethylation of Alkenes with Difluoroacetic Acid.

A facile method for the regioselective hydrodifluoromethylation of alkenes is reported using difluoroacetic acid and phenyliodine(III) diacetate in tetrahydrofuran under visible‐light activation. This metal‐free approach stands out as it uses inexpensive reagents, does not require a photocatalyst, and displays broad functional group tolerance. The procedure is also operationally simple and scalable, and provides access in one step to high‐value building blocks for application in medicinal chemistry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]