Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

Fluorine is the 13th most abundant element on earth, and exists primarily in mineral compositions in the earths crust. It is not commonly used by living systems, but this element has found many uses in organic chemistry, due to the strength of the C-F bond, and organofluorine compounds - compounds that contain a C-F bond - are commonly used as refrigerants, electric insulants and cookware (as PTFE). Another major role for organofluorine compounds is in drugs, where placing a single fluorine atom in the correct position on a pharmaceutical can have major and desireable impact on the biological properties of the molecule. Of all commercialized drugs, approximately 20% contain fluorine, including important drugs in various classes. Furthermore, an unstable isotope of fluorine, F-18, is routinely used for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging, a technique that allows clinicians to examine biochemical processes such as cancer cell growth in a live subject. However, despite the importance of fluorine in pharmaceuticals and medicine, it is still difficult to place a fluorine atom in a specific position of a molecule. The Britton group at SFU, in collaboration with F. Hoffmann LaRoche - one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world - has developed several methods to introduce a fluorine atom into a molecule under gentle conditions. This has enabled the creation of novel fluorinated molecules, including F-18 labeled molecules that can detect cancerous tumors in mice via PET imaging. This research project aims to expand the methods available to biomedical researchers to quickly and gently introduce a fluorine atom into drug molecules for the purpose of optimizing their properties, or for the purposes of creating new PET imaging agents.