Fluorine aggressive nature

Owing to its chemically highly aggressive nature, fluorine is difficult and hazardous to handle and it can be manufactured only via the electrolytic oxidation of fluoride. Fluorine gas has been produced commercially since 1946 and has found applications in many areas of fluorine chemistry (polymers, surfactants, lubricants, thermally stable liquids, blood replacement and pharmaceuticals, propellants, etc.). Inorganic fluorides such as Sp6 and UFe [21] have technical applications. Fluorous solvent systems [22] provide novel reaction environments fundamentally different from both aqueous and hydrocarbon media [23] and fluorine has been employed as a marker or spin label [24]. 

Metal enolates can be fluorinated successfully with perchloryl fluoride, e.g. formation of 4,"" but due to the aggressive nature of perchloryl fluoride its applications are limited " (caulion see Vol.ElOa, p265ff). Alternatively, fluorination can be performed by acetyl hypofluorite... 

The aggressive and acidic nature of the electrolysis medium and the chemical reactivity of fluorine limit the choice of materials and determine the simple and sealed cell design based on a mild steel tank, with a volume of the order of 1 m. ... 

The famous Soviet scientist A.E. Fersman called this chemical element omnivorous . And indeed, there are very few substances, both natural and man-made, that can withstand unprecedented chemical aggressiveness of fluorine. The story of fluorine is an illustration of this property. Fluorine proved to be the last (chronologically) non-metal to be separated in a free state (apart from inert gases). One hundred years passed from the time of the forecasting of the existence of fluorine to the moment when scientists succeeded in obtaining it in a gaseous state. Chemists tried to prepare it over fifteen times but every time the attempts failed. And in several cases they even lost their lives. 

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