Recycling Environmentally Persistent Fluorocarbons with Metathesis and Shuttle Catalysis

Fluorine containing molecules and materials improve our quality of life. For example, fluorinated gases are used as refrigerants in the automotive sector, while fluorine containing polymers such as Teflon are common in households. Fluorine is also important for drug discovery and agrochemicals. For all its advantages, the fluorochemicals industry is unsustainable. Nearly all fluorine containing molecules on our planet are synthetic and single use. At the end of their lifetime they are either destroyed or end up contaminating the environment. Environmental contamination has been extremely damaging. Fluorinated molecules have contributed to ozone depletion (chlorofluorocarbons - CFCs), global warming (hydrofluorocarbons - HFCs) and water contamination (polyfluorinated alkyl substances - PFAS). If we are to continue to depend on fluorine containing molecules and materials, then we must find ways to reuse and recycle fluorine containing molecules at the end of their lifetime, we must stop our reliance on unsustainable natural sources of inorganic fluoride, and we must prevent unnecessary contamination of our planet with synthetic fluorine containing molecules.My objective is to develop new catalytic approaches for the recycling of fluorine containing molecules. My long-term vision is to establish new methods in which fluorine containing molecules such as HFOs, HFCs and PFAS can be used as a source of fluorine atoms and fluorine containing groups. I will pioneer new catalytic reactions that involve the exchange of fluorine atoms between two organic molecules and shuttle equivalents of HF and F2 from one organic fragment to another. These methods represent an important step forward to closed-loop recycling in the fluorochemicals industry. The new methods will be showcased in the production of fluorinated electrolytes from HFOs, new materials from HFCs and new fragments for drug-discovery from the recycling of PFAS, including Teflon.