Selective electrochemical nucleophilic fluorination
The incorporation of fluorine into organic compounds is extremely important for designing molecules with specific function. Fluorine is primed for improving the pharmacokinetic properties of drugs and agrochemicals, and is crucial for the life-changing imaging technique, Positron Emission Tomography (PET). Thus, selective fluorination is an area of significant interest in organic synthesis.

This research programme will develop a concept that promises to revolutionise fluorination chemistry. While nucleophilic fluoride (F-) sources are inexpensive and readily available, they have unfavourable reactivity compared to electrophilic fluorine sources (F+), which are typically expensive, wasteful and not suited to either large scale synthesis or PET. By transmuting F- into F+, we can get the best of both worlds! We will develop a concept based on umpolung (polarity reversal) to invent a number of novel synthetic methodologies or to expand useful reactions into new chemical space. The overall vision is to create new pathways to new bioactive molecules that are either more potent, have improved pharmacokinetics, or can be new radiochemical tracers.

Our strategy relies on the combination of catalysis and electrochemical oxidation to perform this thermodynamically demanding task. The use of electrochemistry is essential for this strategy, because it is necessary to be able to ‘dial-in’ any oxidising potential with high control. New organo- and organometallic catalysts, heterogeneous electrocatalysts and fluoride sources will be developed as part of the studies, which will be of value to the fields of fluorination, homogeneous catalysis, synthesis and energy research. Medicinal, process and radio chemists will all benefit as their toolbox of methods will expand, thereby facilitating the discovery and manufacture of drugs and chemicals that improve the quality of human life around the globe.