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Fluorination

Fluorination, or the introduction of fluorine to a compound, has the profound ability to alter its biological properties due to the electronegativity and small size of fluorine. In pharmaceutical research, fluorine is often introduced into the target compound to improve bioavailability and enhance the metabolic stability profile. The field has grown to include numerous strategies for introduction for the fluorine, including several key reactions.   



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Browse through our comprehensive range of solvents offered under three portfolio brands for your various applications: Supelco® products for analytical chemistry, Sigma-Aldrich® materials for lab and production, SAFC® products for biopharmaceutical and pharmaceutical development and manufacturing.

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Three colorful squares with chemical structures and names on them, placed diagonally from top left to bottom right. The top square is yellow and displays the structure of ‘Furan’ with its five-membered ring including one oxygen atom. The middle square is blue and shows the structure of ‘Thiophene,’ which has a five-membered ring with one sulfur atom. The bottom square is purple and illustrates the structure of ‘Purine,’ a larger, more complex molecule with two rings containing nitrogen atoms.
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Find the basic components needed to drive your research forward in our portfolio of organic building blocks which include Alkanes, Alkenes, Alkynes, Allenes, Arenes, Arsenic Compounds, Baran Functionalized Building Blocks, Baran Hindered Amines, Building Blocks and Chiral Small Molecules from Liverpool ChiroChem, Building Blocks for SuFEx: The Next Click Reaction, Carbenium Salts, and Carbonyl Compounds.

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Three colorful squares with chemical structures and names on them, floating against a white background. The top square is yellow and displays the chemical structure for 2,2-Difluoroethanamine with its molecular formula. The bottom left square is teal and shows the chemical structure for 2-Bromo-4’-fluorobiphenyl with its molecular formula. The bottom right square is purple and presents the chemical structure for 1,1,1-Trifluoro-2,3-dimethyl-2-butanol with its molecular formula.
Fluorinated Building Blocks

With a vast offering of fluorinated building blocks, such as, trifluoromethyl, difluoromethyl, triflate, and pentafluorosulfanyl substituents for your toolkit, we make it even easier to discover your target compounds.

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A chemical structure diagram featuring a central nitrogen (N) atom double-bonded to two other nitrogen atoms, each connected to an isopropyl group (i-Pr). The central nitrogen atom also has a positive charge and is single-bonded to a fluorine (F) atom. Flanking the central structure are two benzene rings, each attached to the outer nitrogen atoms.
Halogenation Reagents

Choose from our wide array of halogenated substrates to improve the success of your bromination, chlorination, fluorination, haloboration, and iodination research endeavors.

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Introduction of a fluorine to a compound via nucleophilic fluorination.


Nucleophilic Fluorination

Nucleophilic fluorination methods employ a fluoride source, such as alkali or ammonium fluoride, for direct displacement of alcohols, additions to aldehydes, ketones and carboxylic acids in highly chemoselective fashions for small molecule synthesis, as well as polyfluorination for materials synthesis.

Introduction of a fluorine to a compound via electrophilic fluorination.

Electrophilic Fluorination

Electrophilic fluorination involves the combination of a carbon-centered nucleophile with an electrophilic source of fluorine. Traditionally, the source of electrophilic fluorine used was fluorine gas, which is highly toxic and a strong oxidizer. However, research has led to reagents that are milder, safer and highly stable alternatives for electrophilic fluorination. These reagents have shown excellent utility in various applications, ranging from electrophilic aromatic substitution to formation of α-fluoro-keto species.

Introduction of a fluorine to a compound via difluoromethylation

Difluoromethylation

Difluoromethylation generates the difluoromethyl group of reagents through nucleophilic addition and radical functionalization of (C–H) bonds. The difluoromethyl group (R-CF2H) has garnered much attention in drug, agrochemical, and material research since it is isoteric to a carbinol group (CH2OH).

Nucleophilic Trifluoromethylation

Trifluoromethylation

Trifluoromethylation is a rapidly growing field in chemical research that has interfaced elegantly with catalysis in crafting new chemical methodologies for placing trifluoromethyl groups onto molecules.

Perfluoroalkylation

Perfluoroalkylation is the reaction of a nucleophilic perfluoroalkyl group with alkyl, alkenyl, and aryl halides or carbonyl compounds. The stability of perfluoroalkyl reagent groups makes them appealing in a variety of applications such as cross-coupling with allyl phosphates.

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