The single fluorine atom of 2-fluoro-3-trifluoromethylfurans and -thiophenes can be readily replaced by various nucleophiles. Depending on the substituent pattern, certain products obtained upon nucleophilic substitution with benzyl alcohols are susceptible to [1,3]- and [1,5]-benzyl group migrations under very mild conditions. Therefore, these rearrangements can be integrated into domino reactions