We disclose a novel boron trifluoride induced C–H activation and difluoroboronation at room temperature, thus providing a straightforward gateway to a series of N,O-bidentate organic BF2complexes. The scope of the method is demonstrated with 24 examples. All the synthesized compounds exhibit fluorescence and some of them have large Stokes shifts.Graphical AbstractSupplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13065-023-00974-7.