Fluorine & chirality: how to create a nonracemic stereogenic carbon–fluorine centre?

Abstract

Enantiopure organofluorine compounds are at the forefront of innovation in the field of fluorine chemistry. The significant progress in modern fluoroorganic chemistry parallels the tremendous achievements in organocatalysis and organometallic catalysis that have permitted the asymmetric synthesis of chiral chemicals featuring a fluorinated stereogenic carbon centre. This tutorial review provides an overview of the current state of the art in asymmetric construction of stereogenic carbon–fluorine centres, not only by direct fluorination, but also by asymmetric reaction of fluorinated substrates.