Recent Advances for the Direct Introduction of the CF₂Me Moiety

Fluorine-containing molecules are compounds of interest in materials as well as in pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries. Therefore, developments in that research field are tremendous and a special focus was dedicated to the design and the study of emergent fluorinated groups. In particular, the CF₂Me residue is attractive as it could be used for example as a bioisostere of the methoxy group. Despite the clear asset that represents this fluorinated moiety and in complement to the traditional approaches used to construct the CF₂Me residue from existing functional groups, the quest for direct methodologies for the 1,1-difluoroethylation reaction of molecules has triggered a strong interest from the scientific community. This Mini-review will focus on the recent advances toward the design of reagents and their applications for the direct 1,1-difluoroethylation of various classes of compounds.