Two new catalysts for aromatics refinement using fluorine compounds and a new fluorine building block are among the results achieved at the Leibniz Institute for Catalysis in Rostock (LIKAT) in the past year. In laboratories around the world, fluorine is considered a hot element when it comes to increasing the effect of substances. For example, the dose of drugs – and their side effects – could be lowered and the use of agrochemicals reduced. However, it is also a „difficult element,“ says Dr. Helfried Neumann of LIKAT, whose team has now given new impetus to fluorine chemistry.