Electronically promoted Payne rearrangement of 3-CF3-2,3-epoxyalcohols.

[reaction: see text] Smooth and selective Payne rearrangement was achieved for the above types of epoxyalcohols with a CF(3) group so as to form thermodynamically more stable alkoxides, where the strongly electron-withdrawing nature of this moiety played a significantly important role and was proved to overcome increased steric instability of epoxides from syn-E to anti-Z isomers.