UWEC CERCA 2026

Fluorinated drugs are pharmaceutical compounds that contain one or more fluorine atoms, which enhance their metabolic stability, bioavailability, and binding affinity to biological targets. Every year, more fluorinated pharmaceuticals are being approved for use by the FDA, with 52 approved from 2018-2022. These compounds span various therapeutic areas such as antidepressants, antibiotics, cholesterol-lowering agents, and corticosteroids. Emerging research suggests that fluorinated compounds may influence health outcomes or contribute to neurological concerns. The goal of this project is to investigate key physicochemical properties of fluorinated pharmaceuticals using computational methods and to evaluate whether these compounds could affect the human body, particularly the brain, in ways not originally intended. The computational chemistry platform WebMO, along with Q Chem and the ADMET AI program are being used to calculate parameters, such as chemical hardness, blood–brain barrier (BBB) penetration, intestinal absorption, and toxicity. Thus far, our results indicate that most fluorinated drugs have at least some probability of crossing the BBB, with predicted penetration ranging from 10% to 70%. Additionally, the majority of these molecules appear to be chemically soft, suggesting that if they cross the BBB, they may be more likely to interact with regions such as the prefrontal cortex, corpus callosum, and brainstem.