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].