The conversion of widely available aryl fluorides to the corresponding phenols has been recognized as an important and useful transformation. The common method involves replacement of a fluorine atom of an electron-deficient aryl fluoride with a variety of alkoxies as 'masked' hydroxy groups followed by cleavage of the resulting aryl alkyl ether in a stepwise or one-pot fashion. [³a] [b] Although the hydroxy ion has been shown to be able to replace fluorine atom in certain ...