The fluoride is a salt of hydrofluoric acid.
Summary
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- 1 Sources of fluoride
- 2 Applications
- 3 Organic fluorides
- 4 Sources
Fluoride sources
The food that contains more fluoride is the fish , but is also found in tea , the coffee , the Soya and even the water potable.
Applications
In the family, inorganic fluorides are found mainly in dental hygiene products. It is applied so that when exchanged with groups Hydroxide of the dental enamel makes the tooth more resistant against the attacks of Caries . Sodium fluoride , fluorophosphates or fluoroamines are often applied in toothpaste formulations (see fluoride therapy and remineralization of teeth). In some countries fluoride is added to drinking water to promote dental health (see fluoridation of drinking water).
Fluorides are also used in industry:
- SulfurHexafluoride (SF6) is a very heavy Gas and has been used to fill Tennis Balls .
- The calcium fluorideis used in metallurgy to make more fluid slag.
- The hydrogenfluoride ammonium(NH 4 HF 2 ) is used in the treatment of glass surfaces that corrodes and makes opaque.
- Cryolite (Na 3AlF 6 ) is used as an electrolyte to obtain aluminum.
- Since there is only one stable isotope of fluorine, fluorides are also used in the separation of other elements. Thus, the separation of uranium 235U from 238U passes through the uraniumhexafluoride .
- Some fluorides like boron trifluoride (BF3) are strong Lewis acids and are used as such and as catalysts.
Organic fluorides
Organic fluorides are compounds that contain fluorine attached to a carbon atom. They are usually colorless and inert substances against many reactions due to the high energy of the CF bond. Only in some activated fluorides can fluorine be displaced in a nucleophilic attack.
The best known organic fluoride is Teflon (polytetrafluoroethylene), a plastic substance with high chemical and thermal resistance. In pharmacology the introduction of a fluoride often increases the half-life of a drug in the patient’s metabolism since they cannot be eliminated by enzymes in our body. Organic fluorides are usually generated by exchanging other halides with inorganic fluorides dissolved in organic solvents. Electrolysis techniques have also been developed for the synthesis of perfluorinated compounds.
