Trifluoracetic acid is an organofluorine compound that is a structural analogue of acetic acid with all three of the acetyl group’s hydrogen atoms replaced by fluorine atoms. It is stronger than acetic acid, having an acid ionization constant of pKA 0.23. Trifluoracetic acid is available in various quantities and reagent grades. It is widely used in organic synthesis, mass spectrometry, and NMR spectroscopy.
The combination of properties like solubility in most of the solvents, volatility, catalytic property and strong acidity with non-oxidizing nature makes it a widely used reagent in an organic synthesis.