Fluorous Technology Explained in 8 Steps
What the Primer Covers
The yield of every chemical step is limited both by the efficiency of the reaction and the ability to recover the pure product from the reaction mixture. However, most traditional solution phase synthesis methods are concerned only with conversion of starting materials to products (reactions) and not with product separations. Fluorous techniques provide strategic new options for conducting solution phase organic reactions and for separating the resulting reaction mixtures. Fluorous molecules typically contain at least one highly fluorinated domain attached to an organic domain. The fluorinated domain can be an integral part of the molecule (permanent attachment) if the intended use is as a reagent, reactant or catalyst. A temporary attachment of a removable fluorous group is required to render a reaction substrate or product fluorous. Fluorous compounds can be separated from standard organic compounds by simple workup techniques of liquid-liquid extraction (two- or three-phase) or solid-liquid extraction. Fluorous compounds can also be separated from each other based on fluorine content by fluorous chromatography.
Five different types of techniques are summarized: fluorous biphasic catalysis, fluorous triphasic reactions, fluorous reagents and reactants, fluorous substrates (fluorous synthesis), and fluorous mixture synthesis. The techniques differ in the size and nature of the fluorous tag, in the reaction conditions and in the separation method. Fluorous techniques are applicable to both green chemical process development and chemical discovery research. Many of these new techniques are especially suited to the preparation of combinatorial libraries by solution phase parallel synthesis. Finally, the primer will conclude with a summary section and suggestions for further reading. You can also download our primer ""A Brief Introduction to Fluorous Techniques and Methods for Synthesis of Organic Molecules" (pdf-format, 120 KB).
Our Technology Primer - Table of Contents
1. Introduction: What are Fluorous Molecules ?2. Fluorous Separation Methods
3. Fluorous Biphasic Catalysis
4. Fluorous Triphasic Reactions
5. Fluorous Reagents, Reactants and Catalysts
6. Fluorous Substrates and Products (Fluorous Synthesis)
7. Fluorous Mixture Synthesis
8. Summary