Enantioselective organocatalytic fluorination using organofluoro nucleophiles

Synthetic fluorinated compounds are enormously useful in areas such as materials, agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals. While methods of electrophilic fluorination have been extensively developed to stereoselectively install fluorine atoms onto molecules, nucleophilic fluorination is a much less explored approach. Recently, several organofluoro reagents have been designed and used as nucleophiles in the asymmetric synthesis of fluorinated compounds, significantly expanding the scope of enantio-enriched fluorine-containing compounds that can be synthesised. Such organofluoro nucleophiles are particularly useful in organocatalytic transformations. In this review, recent advances in the application of organofluoro nucleophiles in organocatalysis are summarised.