Colby trifluoromethylation reagent

Prof. David Colby's laboratory is developing synthetic methods to enable the efficient modification of complex molecules, such as natural products, as well as the production of fluorinated compounds. They have focused on understanding how to cleave bonds in order to remodel structures, and their first major discovery is that the release of trifluoroacetate is a powerful approach to break carbon–carbon bonds. This strategy has enabled the invention of new reagents and methods for the synthesis of fluorinated products for drug discovery and for exploring medicinal chemistry.