Difluoromethylation Reactions of Organic Compounds

The relevance of the -CF₂ H moiety has attracted considerable attention from organic synthetic and medicinal chemistry communities, because this group can act as a more lipophilic isostere of the carbinol, thiol, hydroxamic acid, or amide groups. Being weakly acidic, the CF₂ H moiety can establish hydrogen-bonding interactions to improve the binding selectivity of biologically active compounds. Therefore, the hydroxyl, amino, and thio substituents of lead structures are routinely replaced by a CF₂ H motif in drug discovery, with great benefits in the pharmacological activity of drugs and drug candidates and agrochemicals. Consequently, the late-stage introduction of CF₂ H is a sought-after strategy in designing bioactive compounds. Secondly, but nonetheless relevant and meaningful, is the study of synthetic pathways to introduce a CF₂ -Y moiety (Y≠H, F) into organic substrates because compounds that contain a CF₂ -Y functionality have also found vast applications in medicinal chemistry and in other areas, such as that of fungicides, insecticides, etc., and thus, this functionality deserves special attention. Although emphasis is made on difluoromethylation strategies to functionalize different families of organic compounds, three main methodological protocols will be presented in this review article for the late-stage introduction of a CF₂ H or CF₂ Y moieties into organic substrates: i) a metal-photoredox catalysis; ii) through transition metal-catalyzed thermal protocols; and iii) from transition-metal-free strategies.