Preparation and Utilization of SF5-Containing Building Blocks

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Günter Haufe
• Subject Area: Organic Molecular Chemistry - Synthesis and Characterisation
• Term: from 2011 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 202682338

The chemistry of fluoroorganic compounds is one of the most rapidly developing areas in the life sciences, despite the fact that fluorine is virtually “foreign” to the bioorganic chemistry of life. The introduction of fluorine into organic molecules generally leads to significant changes in their physical, chemical, and biological properties. Among all fluorine-containing molecules, pentafluorosulfanyl(SF5)- substituted ones occupy a special place. Because of its high electronegativity, substantial steric effect, significant hydrophobicity, and high chemical resistance, this group has recently been labeled as the “substituent of the future.” An international collaboration of two highly specialized laboratories in the area of inorganic or organic fluorine chemistry, seeks to advance transformative research in the emerging field of SF5 chemistry versus the incremental research characteristic of a single laboratory. This collaboration, recently initiated without support, has already resulted in two scientific presentations and one manuscript submission. The intellectual merit of the proposed activity involves developing new synthetic routes to key SF5-containing building blocks and electrophilic SF5CF2+ sources, and using them to introduce SF5-containing groups into complex organic structures, synthesizing medicinally relevant compounds, and investigating their biological activity and specificity. Additional novel SF5-containing materials will be prepared and their suitability for applications in green chemistry, energetic materials, and polymer fields will be investigated.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: USA
• Participating Person: Professor Dr. Joseph S. Thrasher