Recent progress on fluorination in aqueous media

Abstract

Advances in aqueous fluorination during the last few decades are summarized in this review. Fluorinated compounds have dominated a large percentage of agrochemicals and pharmaceuticals and a mass of functional materials. The incorporation of fluorine atoms into organic molecules has become one of the mainstream technologies for their functional modification. Water is very environmentally friendly and has advantageous physicochemical properties. Fluorination reactions in aqueous media are highly sought-after, and have attracted great attention in research areas ranging from medicinal chemistry to materials science. In early times and for a long time, fluorination was thought to be diametrically opposed to water or moisture. However, recent examples have conflicted with this viewpoint. The successful merger of “untamed” fluorine and “mild” water in chemical reactions has set up a new prospect for green chemistry. A considerable amount of remarkable research works have been carried out using water as a (co)solvent and/or a reactant for transformations including electrophilic, radical, or nucleophilic fluorination. We hope that this review will serve as a guide to better understand and to further broaden the field of fluorine chemistry in aqueous conditions.