Enabling nucleophilic reactivity in molecular calcium fluoride complexes

CaF₂ is the source of all fluorochemicals. However, little understanding of the reactivity of Ca–F moieties is available to help develop methods to directly incorporate fluoride from CaF₂ into(in)organic molecules.

In a study published today in Nature Chemistry, Job Struijs and co-workers in the Aldridge and Gouverneur groups in the Department of Chemistry describe their synthesis of a library of molecular Ca–F complexes featuring novel structural motifs, including via the defluorination of C–F bonds. Both the rate and efficacy of nucleophilic fluoride delivery were found to be correlated with the presence of key structural motifs.

For further details you can read the study published in Nature Chemistry today, available via open access: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41557-024-01524-x

Graphical abstract.