A Simple Route to Difluorocarbene and Perfluoroalkylidene Complexes of Iridium

Primary perfluoroalkyl compounds of iridium undergo facile two-electron reduction to afford a simple route to difluorocarbene and perfluoroalkylidene complexes, two of which have been crystallographically characterized. Low-temperature protonation reactions illustrate that the thermodynamic site of protonation depends on the nature of the fluorinated carbene; the difluorocarbene complex undergoes protonation at iridium, while its perfluoroethylidene congener undergoes protonation at carbon.