@misc{9247988,
  abstract     = {{Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) possess exceptional chemical stability due to their strong carbon–fluorine bonds, resulting in environmental persistence and degradation challenges. Therefore, developing efficient methods for carbon-fluorine bond cleavage is essential for future recycling and remediation strategies. This work investigates lanthanide-mediated reductive defluorination of 1-fluorooctane using samarium and ytterbium complexes bearing bis(trimethylsilyl)amide (HMDS) and pentamethylcyclopentadienyl (Cp*) ligands. The four divalent lanthanide complexes Sm(HMDS)2 (1), Yb(HMDS)2 (2), Sm(Cp*)2 (3), and Yb(Cp*)2 (4) were synthesised and evaluated as single-electron transfer reagents for C–F activation. The influence of purification, solvent environment, and ligand identity on the efficiency and selectivity of the reductions was investigated using GC-FID analysis.
The results showed that trace amounts of KI enhanced the reduction efficiency, while more extensive purification decreased the reactivity of the complexes. Solvent studies demonstrated that non-coordinating and non-polar solvents promoted higher yields than coordinating and polar solvents. Comparison of the complexes revealed that the complexes bearing HMDS ligands favoured alkane formation, whereas the complexes containing Cp* ligands promoted competing pathways, including the formation of the dimerized alkane. Additionally, the distribution of the byproducts could be controlled by altering the amount of THF in the solvent n-hexane. Overall, this study demonstrates that ligand and solvent environments greatly affect reductive defluorinations of monofluorinated aliphatic compounds mediated by Sm(II) and Yb(II) complexes.}},
  author       = {{Kusnadi, Michelle}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Reductive Defluorination of Primary Alkyl Fluorides Mediated by Sm(II) and Yb(II)}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}