Alkene Vicinal Difluorination: From Fluorine Gas to More Favoured Conditions

Vicinal difluorinated alkanes are entities relevant to medicinal chemistry that are accessed through the difluorination of alkenes. This reaction has advanced from the use of highly reactive and unsafe reagents, which provide poor functional-group tolerance and selectivity, to the use of safer and more selective reagents that facilitate access to a broader scope of substrates. In this review article, we describe the details of these developments. 1 Introduction 2 Strategy 1: Ambiphilic Fluorine Sources 3 Strategy 2: Oxidant and Fluoride 4 Conclusions and Outlook