Trends in Organofluorine Chemistry Reveal Gaps in Knowledge on Environmental Persistence

H, to an existing chemical structure with a known functionality. Newly proposed substances have relatively lower degrees of fluorination than those that have been characterized for environmental degradation yet can achieve similar characteristics associated with "druggability", such as lipophilicity and topological surface area. The extent of defluorination in the environment shows low correlation with FAF, though within subclasses of chemical backbones some trends emerge, highlighting the importance of the local bonding environment when fluorinated moieties are a small part of the overall structure of a chemical. Building a predictive understanding of how the type and degree of fluorination and backbone characteristics intersect to determine the environmental behavior of these compounds will be critical to enabling innovation while safeguarding environmental and human health.