Fluorination in medicinal chemistry: Methods, strategies, and recent developments

Methods for introducing fluorine into organic molecules are reviewed, with an emphasis on preparation of compounds designed for biomedicinal applications. Electrophilic fluorination, nucleophilic fluorination, and enantioselective monofluorination procedures are discussed. This is followed by a review of the development of nucleophilic and electrophilic trifluoromethylation procedures. The final sections highlight recent applications of fluorine chemistry in drug development with selected examples.