Organofluorine Chemistry

Our research interest is focussed on the development of new synthetic methods, especially in the field of organofluorine chemistry. Organofluorine chemistry plays a key role in various aspects of modern life sciences, and the introduction of fluorine substituents into organic molecules dramatically changes their electronic structure and physicochemical properties. Recently, the search for alternatives to the classical fluorinated functional groups has gained importance due to the problems related to their degradation products or their longevity and accumulation in the environment. Our efforts are focused on developing strategies for accessing molecules that have been either difficult to access or belong to uncharted chemical space. We strive to explore and understand their electronic structure and reactivity. Our research here follows two main strategies: (1) developing new reagents that enable such transformations, or (2) exploring novel reactivity modes of small molecules (e.g. SF₆) to subject them to unknown transformations. Finally, we aim to study these molecules and motifs from different perspectives of modern life- and materials sciences.