The para-fluoro-thiol reaction as an efficient tool in polymer chemistry

In the current contribution, we discuss the application and potential of the versatile para-fluoro-thiol reaction in the context of synthesis and modification of polymers and materials made thereof. General reaction parameters such as solvent, temperature, and activator are reviewed. In addition, orthogonality towards some important ligation methods is examined. A brief description of the applications in which the PFTR was employed is finally provided. We postulate that the PFTR will come to be increasingly considered as a powerful complement to well-established coupling methodologies, due to the generally high selectivity of pentafluorophenyl moieties towards thiols under mild, metal-free conditions.