Inspired by the success of fluorinated corticosteroids in the 1950s and fluoroquinolones in the 1980s, fluorine-containing pharmaceuticals, which are also known as fluoro-pharmaceuticals, have been attracting attention for more than half of a century. Presently, about 20% of the commercial pharmaceuticals are fluoro-pharmaceuticals. In this mini-review, we analyze the prevalence of fluoro-pharmaceuticals in the market and categorize them into several groups based on the chemotype of the fluoro-functional groups, their therapeutic purpose, and the presence of heterocycles and/or chirality to highlight the structural motifs, patterns, and promising trends in fluorine-based drug design. Our database contains 340 fluoro-pharmaceuticals, from the first fluoro-pharmaceutical, Florinef, to the latest fluoro-pharmaceuticals registered in 2019 and drugs that have been withdrawn. The names and chemical structures of all the 340 fluorinated drugs discussed are provided in the Supporting Information.

Contribution of Organofluorine Compounds to Pharmaceuticals.

Current Contributions of Organofluorine Compounds to the Agrochemical Industry.

Over the last two decades, fluorine substitution has become one of the essential structural traits in modern pharmaceuticals. Thus, about half of the most successful drugs (blockbuster drugs) contain fluorine atoms. In this review, we profile 17 fluorine-containing drugs approved by the food and drug administration (FDA) in 2018. The newly approved pharmaceuticals feature several types of aromatic F and CF3 , as well as aliphatic (CF2 ) substitution, offering advances in the treatment of various diseases, including cancer, HIV, malarial and smallpox infections.

Fluorine-Containing Drugs Approved by the FDA in 2018

The chemistry of the carbonyl group is essential to modern organic synthesis. The preparation of substituted, enantioenriched 1,3- or 1,5-dicarbonyls is well developed, as their disconnection naturally follows from the intrinsic polarity of the carbonyl group. By contrast, a general enantioselective access to quaternary stereocenters in acyclic 1,4-dicarbonyl systems remains an unresolved problem, despite the tremendous importance of 2,3-substituted 1,4-dicarbonyl motifs in natural products and drug scaffolds. Here we present a broad enantioselective and stereodivergent strategy to access acyclic, polysubstituted 1,4-dicarbonyls via acid-catalyzed [3,3]-sulfonium rearrangement starting from vinyl sulfoxides and ynamides. The stereochemistry at sulfur governs the absolute sense of chiral induction, whereas the double bond geometry dictates the relative configuration of the final products.

Stereodivergent synthesis of 1,4-dicarbonyls by traceless charge–accelerated sulfonium rearrangement

Next generation organofluorine containing blockbuster drugs

New methods for preparation of tailor-made fluorine-containing compounds are in extremely high demand in nearly every sector of chemical industry. The asymmetric construction of quaternary C–F stereogenic centers is the most synthetically challenging and, consequently, the least developed area of research. As a reflection of this apparent methodological deficit, pharmaceutical drugs featuring C–F stereogenic centers constitute less than 1% of all fluorine-containing medicines currently on the market or in clinical development. Here we provide a comprehensive review of current research activity in this area, including such general directions as asymmetric electrophilic fluorination via organocatalytic and transition-metal catalyzed reactions, asymmetric elaboration of fluorine-containing substrates via alkylations, Mannich, Michael, and aldol additions, cross-coupling reactions, and biocatalytic approaches.

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Mikiko Sodeoka

Papers

Modern Approaches for Asymmetric Construction of Carbon–Fluorine Quaternary Stereogenic Centers: Synthetic Challenges and Pharmaceutical Needs