Methyl gallate was used as the framework for the construction of the building blocks 3-5 with three fluorous ponytails. Fluorous gallate 3 was prepared from methyl gallate in three different pathways.
The first is based on perfluorohexyl iodide addition to the corresponding allylderivative 1 and reduction of C-I bond in adduct 2; other ways are based on direct O-alkylation of methyl gallate by 3-(perfluorohexyl)propyl triflate and 3-(perfluorohexyl)propyl iodide, respectively. Reduction of polyfluoroalkylated gallate 3 provided benzyl alcohol 4, which can be easily converted to corresponding benzyl bromide 5.