Fluoroproducts - the extremophiles

The CAS register covering the period 1989-1998 includes 610,873 compounds containing at least one fluorine atom. In the same period there were 536 000 publications on fluorine-containing products of which 27% or 144 720 are patents. Of the approximately 10 million chemical substances in the ACS register, between 6 and 7% contain at least one carbon-fluorine bond, one of the most extreme in chemistry. Thus, fluorinated compounds are extremely important products and are often vital where extreme performance and properties are needed [C. van Doven, The Octopuses' Garden, Helix Books, Addison Wesley, New York, ISBN 0 201 407701; R.E. Rawls, Some like it hot, Chem. Eng. News December 21 (1998) 35]. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.