The effects of the CF2H moiety on H-bond (HB) acidity and lipophilicity of various compounds, when attached directly to an aromatic ring or to other functions like alkyls, ethers/thioethers, or electron-withdrawing groups, are discussed. It was found that the CF2H group acts as a HB donor with a strong dependence on the attached functional group (A = 0.035–0.165). Regarding lipophilicity, the CF2H group may act as a more lipophilic bioisostere of OH but as a similar or less lipophilic bioisostere of SH and CH3, respectively, when attached to Ar or alkyl. In addition, the lipophilicity of ethers, sulfoxides, and sulfones is dramatically increased upon CH3/CF2H exchange at the α position. Interestingly, this exchange significantly affects not only the polarity and the volume of the solutes but also their HB-accepting ability, the main factors influencing log P oct. Accordingly, this study may be helpful in the rational design of drugs containing this moiety.

A practical, convenient, and general method for the difluoromethylation of tertiary amines, using diethyl bromodifluoromethylphosphonate and fluoride, is described. This commercially available phosphonate smoothly reacts with a fluoride ion to liberate a difluorocarbene intermediate that in the presence of a proton source and a tertiary amine generates the corresponding α-difluoromethylammonium compound in good to excellent yields. Despite the involvement of a difluorocarbene intermediate, this difluoromethylation occurs almost exclusively on the nitrogen atom with diverse molecular structures, including drugs, surfactants, chiral phase transfer catalysts, polymers, ionic liquids, and other fine chemicals. A preliminary assessment of the effects that an α-difluoromethyl groupT has on hydrogen bonding and logP of quaternary ammonium salts is also described.

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Me-DABCOF, a mild universal, non-corrosive, water-soluble decontamination agent that effectively neutralizes chemical warfare agents (HD, VX).

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The development of novel analytical methods to detect and identify chemical warfare agents (CWAs), their degradation products, metabolites, and precursors is of high importance as terrorist groups and radical regimes use or plan to use chemical weapons against civilians or military targets. Gas chromatography (GC) and liquid chromatography (LC), usually hyphenated with mass spectrometry (MS), are the major techniques used to detect and identify chemicals of concern according to the chemical convention. In this mini‐review, we describe the present state of research on the derivatization and modification of CWAs and related compounds for LC‐MS and atmospheric pressure ionization (API)‐based analysis reported in the open literature during the last 15 years. The more polar, reactive, or highly volatile agents are derivatized to expedite chromatography and to impart properties valuable for sensitive detection and identification by MS. In this article, we focus on trace analysis of CWAs, mostly G‐type nerve agents, blister agents (sulfur mustard (HD)), and the most famous blood agent, cyanide. Analytical applications are mainly in environmental matrices but also in biomedical matrices that support the investigation of CWAs use and monitoring of possible exposure to CWAs.