Our Technology
Accelerating Discovery & Development through Precision Fluorination
At MolecuNav, we’ve developed a proprietary fluorination platform that empowers researchers to precisely and rapidly install fluorine atoms—both “regular” 19F and radioactive 18F — into small molecules and biologics. This innovation unlocks powerful new capabilities in molecular imaging, structural analysis, and therapeutic development.
Fluorine is highly valuable in medicinal chemistry because it can alter a molecule’s properties to improve drug design. It enhances metabolic stability by resisting enzymatic degradation and increases lipophilicity, improving membrane permeability. Fluorine’s electronegative nature modifies electronic properties, enabling stronger interactions with biological targets and boosting binding affinity and specificity.
It also improves pharmacokinetics by optimizing absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion. Fluorination can block metabolic hotspots, tune acidity/basicity, and improve the efficacy and selectivity of drugs. When incorporated into drug molecules, radioactive 18F serves as a beacon for PET and SPECT imaging—enabling scientists to observe biological behavior in real time. Its short half-life makes it ideal for medical use, delivering high-resolution data with minimal exposure. Our platform makes this process fast, clean, and compatible with even the most complex molecules.
What Sets The MolecuNav Platform Apart
Exceptional Specificity
Our chemistry installs fluorine without disrupting the rest of the molecule—no need for expensive and time-consuming protection/deprotection steps.
Ultrafast & High Yielding Reactions
Fluorination is typically complete in under 10 minutes, well within the ca. 2 hour half-life of 18F
Versatile Application
Easily applied to small molecules, peptides, or large biomolecules via modular tagging strategies.
The Science behind the MolecuNav fluorination platform
Our platform is founded on innovative chemistry originally developed in the laboratory of Prof. Mauro Adamo at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI). At the heart of this approach is a simple yet powerful concept: a chemically benign thiophenyl (i.e. –SPh) “dummy group” is first introduced into the molecule of interest. This thiophenyl placeholder can then be selectively and efficiently replaced by fluorine at a desired stage in the synthetic route—bringing the holy grail of late-stage fluorination within reach for medicinal chemists.
Notably the platform avoids the use of the hydroxy or a quaternary ammonium salt moieties – commonly used as the starting point for the introduction of Fluorine on either aromatic or aliphatic substrates. Hence, the MolecuNav technology also allows for the redesign of synthetic strategies which may lead to shorter manufacturing routes.