Silver‐Catalyzed Oxidative Activation of Benzylic CH Bonds for the Synthesis of Difluoromethylated Arenes

A mild and catalytic method to form difluoromethylated arenes through the activation of benzylic CH bonds has been developed. Utilizing AgNO 3 as the catalyst, various arenes with diverse functional groups undergo activation/fluorination of benzylic CH bonds with commercially available Selectfluor reagent as a source of fluorine in aqueous solution. The reaction is operationally simple and amenable to gram‐scale synthesis.