Organic hypofluorites and their new role in industrial fluorine chemistry

In this work a historical background of the synthesis and chemistry of fluo rinated organic hypofluorites is given and some of the known applications o f this class of compounds are reviewed. Recently, new industrial processes based on hypofluorite chemistry have bee n developed for the production of a variety of fluoromonomers. These proces ses are all based on the addition of hypofluorites having different structu res to fluorinated olefins. Some mechanistic features of this key reaction are discussed, in terms of reactivity and stability of the intermediate pri mary radicals deriving from homolytic cleavage of the hypofluorite bond. Various aspects of these new processes are described and, in the light of t hese recent achievements, it is shown how hypofluorite chemistry has acquir ed great importance as a powerful and versatile methodology for the product ion of fluoromonomers of prominent industrial interest. (C) 1999 Elsevier S cience S.A. All rights reserved.