Reagents for Fluorination

Abstract

Since they are extremely rare in nature, organofluorine compounds are only accessible artificially by fluorination of organic compounds. The most basic fluorinating agents are fluorine gas (F2) and hydrogen fluoride (HF). Starting from these, various kinds of electrophilic and nucleophilic fluorinating reagents have been invented, respectively, and their reactivities have been studied in detail. Although some of the reactions may be carried out in standard laboratories using common glassware, handling any fluorinating reagents still needs special care, because corrosive HF may be released. The toxicity of many organofluorine compounds is not yet fully understood, although most of them are nontoxic. Therefore, great care should be paid when dealing with any fluorinating reagents. Here, electrophlilic reagents, and subsequently nucleophilic ones, are described, followed by electrochemical fluorination.