Ketones as directing groups in photocatalytic sp3 C–H fluorination† †Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. CCDC 1556373, 1556374 and 1556555. For ESI and crystallographic data in CIF or other electronic format see DOI: 10.1039/c7sc02703f

The ubiquitous ketone carbonyl group generally deactivates substrates toward radical-based fluorinations, especially sites closest to it. Herein, ketones are used instead to direct aliphatic fluorination using Selectfluor, catalytic benzil, and visible light. Selective band g-fluorination are demonstrated on rigid mono-, di-, tri-, and tetracyclic (steroidal) substrates employing both cyclic and exocyclic aliphatic ketones as directing groups.