The steric and electronic effects of aliphatic fluoroalkyl groups

Ab initio calculations were performed on 18 fluorinated and unfluorinated alcohols at the B3LYP and HF levels with the 6-311G∗∗ basis set. Molar volumes of the alcohols were computed at each level and averaged to produce a scale of relative size. From this, various isosteric replacements of potential use in drug design were suggested: ethyl by FCH2CH2 or HCF2CH2, propyl by CF3CH2, isopropyl by CF3(CH3)CH or (FCH2)2CH, isobutyl or t-butyl by (CF3)2CH, and 3-methyl-2-butyl by CF3(CH3)2C. Calculation of the charge on oxygen and the Wiberg index of the CO bond allowed an electronegativity scale to be constructed for the fluoroalkyl groups. Electronegativity decreased in the order: (CF3)3C>(CF3)2CH>C2F5CH2>CF3CH2>CH3(CF3)2C>HCF2CH2>CF3(CH3)CH>(FCH2)2CH>FCH2CH2>CF3(CH3)2C. This ranking agreed with literature acid dissociation data for the alcohols studied.