Substituent and solvent effects on the reactions of organoboronic acids with fluoride

The introduction of an electron-withdrawing substituent or a substituent protonated to be positively charged and potentially involved in hydrogen bonding enhances the reactivities of phenylboronic acids with fluoride. The use of a 60% aqueous MeOH medium suppresses the formation of the negatively charged species, irrespective of whether their structures are trigonal or tetrahedral, but enhances the overall reactivity because of less solvation of fluoride.