Palladium–mediated organofluorine chemistry

Abstract

The substitution of fluorine for hydrogen in a molecule may result in profound changes in its properties and behaviour. Fluorine does not introduce special steric constraints since the F atom has a small size. However, the changes in bond polarity and the possibility of forming hydrogen bonds with other hydrogen donor fragments in the same or other molecules, may change the solubility and physical properties of the fluorinated compound when compared to the non-fluorinated one. Fluorine forms strong bonds to other elements and this ensures a good chemical stability. Altogether, fluorinated compounds are very attractive in materials chemistry and in medicinal chemistry, where many biologically active molecules and pharmaceuticals do contain fluorine in their structure and this has been shown to be essential for their activity