Inspired by the success of fluorinated corticosteroids in the 1950s and fluoroquinolones in the 1980s, fluorine-containing pharmaceuticals, which are also known as fluoro-pharmaceuticals, have been attracting attention for more than half of a century. Presently, about 20% of the commercial pharmaceuticals are fluoro-pharmaceuticals. In this mini-review, we analyze the prevalence of fluoro-pharmaceuticals in the market and categorize them into several groups based on the chemotype of the fluoro-functional groups, their therapeutic purpose, and the presence of heterocycles and/or chirality to highlight the structural motifs, patterns, and promising trends in fluorine-based drug design. Our database contains 340 fluoro-pharmaceuticals, from the first fluoro-pharmaceutical, Florinef, to the latest fluoro-pharmaceuticals registered in 2019 and drugs that have been withdrawn. The names and chemical structures of all the 340 fluorinated drugs discussed are provided in the Supporting Information.

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The first example of the synthesis of β-lactam-triflones is described. Treatment of 2-diazo-1-aryl-2-(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)ethanones 1c-f with imines 2 under catalyst-free heating conditions provides pharmaceutically attractive multisubstituted β-lactam-triflones 3 in good to high yields with regio- and diastereoselectivities. A successive Wolff rearrangement and Staudinger [2 + 2] cycloaddition reaction are key elements for the success of this transformation.

Here we have successfully demonstrated the first stereodivergent direct nucleophilic trifluoromethylation of N-sulfinylimines using the potent greenhouse gas "HFC-23, fluoroform" with an organic-superbase or an organometallic-base in high yields and selectivity.

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