Fluorination and Fluoroalkylation of Organolithium, Magnesium, and Zinc Reagents

During recent 30 years, successful efforts have been made to develop useful electrophilic fluorinating and fluoroalkylating reagents in spite of the difficulty of generating fluorine cation (F+) and fluoroalkyl cation (F-C+). With this advancement, a wide variety of reactions between these reagents and organometallics have been reported as one of the most straightforward ways to introduce fluorinated functional groups. This review focuses on the progress of the fluorination and fluoroalkylation of organolithium, magnesium, and zinc reagents, including trifluoromethylation, difluoromethylation, bromodifluoromethylation, fluoro(di)halomethylation, perfluoroalkylation, carbonylfluoromethylation, and miscellaneous fluoroalkylations. Keywords: Organofluorine compound, fluorination, fluoroalkylation, electrophilic reagent, organometallic reagent.