The Directing Group: A Tool for Efficient and Selective C–F Bond Activation

C–F bond activation is currently considered to be "a hot topic" in many different but interconnected fields of research, due to its inherent inertness and unique properties. While considerable progress has been made in this particular field of research, activating strong bonds, such as the C–F bond, continues to be a challenge. Because polyfluorinated compounds are commercially available, the functionalization of C–F bonds has been extensively studied for preparing partially fluorinated compounds, some of which are biologically active and are used as functionalized materials. However, chemo- and regioselective methods are still required to prepare useful partially fluorinated compounds. In addition, a new strategy for the activation of a C–F bond in less reactive monofluorinated compounds remains a need. Directed strategies have been extensively used in C–H bond activation chemistry to achieve high efficiency as well as a high regioselectivity. On the other hand, a directed strategy that is applicable to the activation of various unreactive bonds, such as C–O, C–N, C–F, and others is still needed, compared with directed C–H bond activation. In this Review, we focus on the directed strategy for the activation of inert C–F bonds.