An international team has developed a synthetic strategy to make NCF₃, SCF₃ and OCF₃ anions for pharmaceutical applications with far fewer PFAS-generating steps, Science reports. The strategy is timely, given the upcoming tightening of regulations on fluorine-containing molecules.

There is currently a love-hate relationship with fluorinated molecules. Rightly so, of course: PFAS pollution is having a major impact in some places. At the same time, fluorine is an essential element in many medicines and agrochemicals.

A recent article in Chemical & Engineering News considers how we should look at fluorinated medicines: are they PFAS or not? In 2021, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published a new definition of PFAS, expanding the scope to include ‘fluorinated substances containing at least one fully fluorinated methyl (-CF₃) or methylene (-CF₂-) carbon atom’. These types of compounds are common in medicines and in the substances used to make medicines containing fluorine.