Chemistry breakthrough makes fluorochemicals production safer

Scientists from the University of Oxford have come up with a new way to obtain fluorine atoms, used to manufacture important chemical compounds used in industry and research, in a much safer and less energy-intensive way. “Despite stringent safety regulations, HF spills have occurred numerous times in the last decades, sometimes with fatal accidents and detrimental environmental effects,” a university press release said. To avoid HF and to make the extraction process require less energy, the researchers took inspiration from how the human body makes bones and teeth: through calcium phosphate biomineralisation. University of St. Andrews chemistry professor David O’Hagan told New Scientist, “To me, this looks like it could be the beginning of something new for this industry.” Aside from sidestepping the creation of HF, the new process also shortens the fluorochemicals supply chain. Two members of the group, Gouverneur and postdoctoral scholar Gabriele Pupo, also cofounded a start-up called Fluorok in 2022 to focus on “cleaner, safer and less expensive access to fluorochemicals”.