Chemistry 2024, e202403277
DOI: 10.1002/chem.202403277
Functional group (FG) is one of the cornerstone concepts in organic chemistry and related areas. The wide spread of bioisosterism ideas in medicinal chemistry and beyond caused a striking rise in demand for novel FGs with a defined impact on the developed compound properties. In this work, the evaluation of the 3,3-difluorooxetane unit (3,3-diFox) as a functional group for bioisosteric replacements is disclosed. A comprehensive experimental study (including multigram building block synthesis, quantification of steric and electronic properties, measurements of pKa, LogP, chemical stability, and biological evaluation of the 3,3-diFox-derived bioisostere of a drug candidate) revealed a prominent behavior of the 3,3-diFox fragment as a versatile substituent for early drug discovery programs.