Successful selective hydrodefluorinations of aryl fluorides were carried out in the presence of a cobalt catalyst supported by trimethylphosphine and with sodium formate as a reducing agent in acetonitrile or DMSO. Octafluorotoluene (1), pentafluoropyridine (2), hexafluorobenzene (3), pentafluorobenzene (3a) and perfluorobiphenyl (4) were studied to investigate the scope of this catalytic system. It was found that the fluorinated compounds ...
