Construction of CF₂ moieties in FDA-approved drugs (2016–2025): industrial routes, mechanisms, and scale-up considerations

• Wenyan Yao,
• Huanhuan Zhang,
• Xiaolong Yang and
• Feng Liu

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 1122–1150, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.91

• drugs, from strategic design to scale-up evaluation. Keywords: difluoromethylene group (-CF2-); difluoromethyl group (-CF2H); FDA-approved drugs; fluorination methods; process scale-up; Introduction In recent years, the CF2 group has demonstrated unique advantages in drug discovery and clinical

• during clinical and commercial manufacturing phases. The term "CF2" structural unit discussed in this review broadly refers to fragments in drug molecules containing a gem-difluoromethylene group (–CF2–) or a difluoromethyl group (–CF2H), as well as derivatives such as –CF2Cl. In addition, molecules

Direct C2–H alkylation of indoles driven by the photochemical activity of halogen-bonded complexes

• Martina Mamone,
• Giuseppe Gentile,
• Jacopo Dosso,
• Maurizio Prato and
• Giacomo Filippini

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 575–581, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.42

• presents a difluoromethylene group (–CF2–) in the alpha position to the iodine, was performed (see Figure S3 in Supporting Information File 1). Even in this case, an important shift of the fluorine signal was observed. Thus, from a mechanistic point of view, the reaction is driven by the formation of a

Synthesis of gem-difluoromethylenated analogues of boronolide

• Jing Lin,
• Xiao-Long Qiu and
• Feng-Ling Qing

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2010, 6, No. 37, doi:10.3762/bjoc.6.37

• ]. Considering the similarity in size of fluorine and hydrogen atoms, the strong electron-withdrawing property of gem-difluoromethylene group (CF2) [19][20] and our continual efforts to prepare gem-difluoromethylenated analogues of natural products containing α,β-unsaturated-δ-lactone moiety [21][22][23][24], we