CRC 1349/1: Fluorine-Specific Interactions: Fundamentals and Functions

The purpose of the CRC initiative is to understand and control the complex interactions that can arise from fluorinated building blocks in chemical systems. These phenomena, which are collectively referred to as “Fluorine-Specific Interactions” include H—F hydrogen bonding interactions and networks, coordination to fluorinated Lewis acids, and the interaction between (per)fluorinated alkyl groups, which we call fluorous systems. The interactions on the molecular level differ significantly from those exhibited in bulk systems due to the presence of mutually-influencing, nonaddictive effects on surfaces and in liquid phases. As a result, several systems of increasing size are investigated ranging from single molecules through various condensed phase ensembles and up to solid interfaces. The effects of the investigated interactions on a wide range of physicochemical properties and chemical reactivities are in the focus of the CRC. These include the effects of Fluorine-Specific Interactions on the properties of functional materials, their influence on various catalytic processes and the biochemical and pharmacological effects on a range of biological systems. For this purpose, the wide-ranging expertise of the different working groups involved in synthesis/biosynthesis, analytics/spectroscopy and theory/modelling will be complementarily and synergistically linked in order to systematically expand our understanding of both the conceptual under-pinning of Fluorine-Specific Interactions and their numerous consequences across many areas of chemistry.