Fluoroalkynylations of Aryl Halides under Continuous Flow Homogeneous Catalysis

Organo-fluorine compounds are increasing in their synthetic importance not only due to their significance in the preparation of pharmaceutical gents but also due to their emerging applications as radiopharmaceuticals – which has led to a surge in demand.
Consequently, numerous research groups are focusing their activities on the development of facile and selective methods for the efficient incorporation of fluorine into organic molecules. In the case of radiopharmaceuticals, the short half-life of 18F (109 min) further increases the importance of reducing the time taken for execution of synthetic, and subsequent purification, steps.
With this in mind, Jones recently reported the application of continuous flow techniques for the synthesis of fluorinated alkynyl arenes and heteroarenes utilising a Labtrix®-S1 micro reaction system - with a view to improving reaction time and substrate specificity when compared to conventional synthetic techniques that are based on Sonogashira coupling methodology.