1. o-Fluoroaniline (3 g, 27.00 mmol), 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoroacetone sesquihydrate (4.23 ml, 34.60 mmol), and p-toluenesulfonic acid monohydrate (0.54 g, 2.84 mmol) were added to a reaction flask and mixed under the protection of nitrogen. 2. The reaction mixture was heated to 90 °C and kept at this temperature for the reaction overnight. 3. . Upon completion of the reaction, the reaction mixture was diluted with 600 mL of ethyl acetate and subsequently washed with saturated sodium bicarbonate solution.4 The ethyl acetate phase was further washed with brine, dried over a liquid separator, and then concentrated under reduced pressure.5 Purification was carried out by silica gel column chromatography with the eluent being a mixture of heptane and ethyl acetate (gradient elution from 0 to 20% ethyl acetate) to give the impure target product.6. The impure product was purified again under the same chromatographic conditions to give 2-(4-amino-3-fluorophenyl)-1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoropropan-2-ol (2.3 g, 31% yield). 7. The product was analyzed by LC/MS, m/z = 276 [M-H]-. 8. 1H NMR (500 MHz, DMSO) δ 5.55 (s, 2H), 6.82 ( t, 1H), 7.15 (d, 1H), 7.19 (d, 1H), 8.44 (s, 1H).
