Hamel Group
The fundamental interests of the Hamel group lie within the synthesis and applications of organofluorine compounds. The group currently focuses on developing new synthetic methods to access fluorinated motifs, either through fluorination or partial defluorination reactions. In addition, the group wishes to engage in the synthesis of fluorinated molecules that have a specific purpose through collaborations within ARRTI.
For example, our group can prepare fluorinated molecules that could be assimilated in organisms through biological processes (ex. incorporation of fluorinated amino acids into peptides) or that could form transient or permanent interactions with select biomolecules (ex. binding to the active site of enzymes).
The presence of fluorine atoms can also enable studies by 19F nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy as a complementary tool to those typically employed in biochemistry, which can provide data of high specificity unobscured by the matrix due to the absence of fluorine atoms in non-doped biological systems.