Copper-mediated aerobic trifluoromethyltelluration of boronic acids with [Me(4)N][TeCF(3)]

A copper-mediated trifluoromethyltelluration of arylboronic acids with [Me(4)N][TeCF(3)] using air as an environmental friendly oxidant is presented. The reaction proceeded smoothly under mild conditions in the presence of Cu(OTf)(2) and bipyridine to provide the corresponding trifluoromethyltellurated products in good yields. Vinylboronic acid and arylboronic acid pinacol ester were also suitable substrates in the conversion but the yields are low. This transformation featured simplicity, good functional group tolerance, and a wide range of substrates, allowing for a convenient access to various TeCF(3)-containing molecules, and represented the first Chan-Lam type trifluoromethyltelluration with the highly reactive [Me(4)N][TeCF(3)] salt.