{
  "abstract": "Metal-free potent Lewis acids are of great interest in the pharmaceutical and food industries to avoid metal contaminants. Phosphorus pentafluoride (PF 5 ) is a potent Lewis acid, but its practical use is severely restricted by its gaseous state and corrosiveness. Here we report a simple and convenient method for either the rapid or slow in situ generation of PF 5 from widely available and easy to handle hexafluorophosphate (PF 6 − ) salts and either aluminum chloride (AlCl 3 ) or boron trifluoride etherate (BF 3 ·Et 2 O), respectively. The potency of PF 5 in Lewis acid catalysis is demonstrated in the tandem Friedel–Craft alkylation of thiophene derivatives with ketones, where PF 5 outperforms conventional Lewis acids such as BF 3 ·Et 2 O, AlCl 3 , and SnCl 4 .",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Laboratoire de Chimie Organique, Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB, Avenue F. D. Roosevelt 50, Brussels, Belgium, B-1050",
    "Laboratoire de Résonance Magnétique Nucléaire Haute Résolution, Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB, Avenue F. D. Roosevelt 50, Brussels, Belgium, B-1050"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 4,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Roy Lavendomme",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-6238-8491"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Alexia Dussart"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Alice Dufau--Malon"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Ivan Jabin"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/59p9xmtytvdc2.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.26434/chemrxiv.15010018/v1",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "59p9xmtytvdc2",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15010018/v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "1607|Organic and Inorganic Chemical Reactions"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7220832094",
  "pdf_url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/pdf/10.26434/chemrxiv.15010018/v1",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-07",
  "publisher": "American Chemical Society (ACS)",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/59p9xmtytvdc2.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:22Z",
      "native_id": "10.26434/chemrxiv.15010018",
      "source": "chemrxiv",
      "url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15010018/v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "chemistry",
      "origin": "openalex:1607|Organic and Inorganic Chemical Reactions",
      "subfield": "physical"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Practical In Situ Generation of Phosphorus Pentafluoride as a Metal-Free Potent Lewis Acid",
  "title_text": "Practical In Situ Generation of Phosphorus Pentafluoride as a Metal-Free Potent Lewis Acid",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:17:22Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/59p9xmtytvdc2",
  "venue": "ChemRxiv",
  "versions": []
}