Recently graduated MChem student Luca Dobson, working in the lab of Dr. Graham Pattison, has published the first Rh-catalysed arylation of fluorinated ketones with boronic acids in Chem Comm. Fluorinated molecules are of wide interest in medicinal and materials chemistries and over 30% of all commercial drugs contain a fluorine atom because of the beneficial effect the element can impart on biological activity. This reaction allows a safe and sustainable route for the production of fluorinated tertiary alcohol building blocks using reagents which are air- and moisture-stable.

Interestingly, we showed the difluorinated (CF₂H) ketone to be more reactive than the trifluoromethyl (CF₃) ketone, despite the fact each additional fluorine atom provides extra electronic activation. We believe this effect to be because of the larger size of the CF₃ group compared to the CF₂H group hindering key reaction steps at the metal centre.