Fluorine physiological effects

Fluorine compounds—Therapeutic use. 2. Fluorine—Physiological effect. 

Organofluorine compounds. 2. Fluorination - Physiological effect. 3. Bioorganic chemistry. 4. Pharmaceutical chemistry. I. Ojima, Iwao. II. Taguchi, Takeo. 

The physiological effects of the fluoride ion were reviewed by McClure 74) in 1933. Lehmann 72) published an article on the toxicity of aromatic fluorine compounds in 1928. However, it has been impossible to investigate the toxicity of the organofluorine compounds as thoroughly as that of the organochlorine compounds. 

H.T. Dean, The investigation of physiological effects by the epidemiological method, in F.R. Moulton (Ed.), Fluorine and Dental Health, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, DC, 1942, pp. 23-31. 

Several chapters dealing with the interaction of fluorine and fluorides with plants, animals and men can be also found in the series Advances in Fluorine Science Elsevier, Amsterdam (2006), Effects of fluorine emissions on plants and organisms by A.W. Davison and L.H. Weinstein (Vol. 1) Physiological effects of highly fluorinated waters by M. Pontie et al. (Vol. 2.). See also in the present book interaction between fluorinated biomaterials and the human body by C. Rey et al. and fluoride in dentistry by J. W. Nicholson and B. Czarnecka. 

Frant and Ross [15] invented an ion-elective fluoride-type electrode. Its measuring membrane was made of europium-doped homogeneous lanthanum fluoride crystal membrane. Measuring fluoride ion concentration is not an easy task on the other hand, the contradiction concerning the beneficial and the toxic physiological effects of fluorine ion intake created intensive debates. Therefore, the electrode that made the simple potential measuring technique applicable for fluoride measurements became very popular in practice. 

The physiological effects of fluorine have been reviewed by Dyson (1927), and by McClure (1933). 

Progress in pharmaceutical science is, in turn, directly connected with the discovery of new reactions, suitable for the purposeful synthesis of compounds of a certain structure, forming a basis for the development of new kinds of drugs possessing the necessary biological activity. The effect of fluorine in that case reveals itself both in the modification of the properties of the organic substrate and the physiological action of the molecule as a whole. 

Fluorine (F) is the second most active chemical element after astatine. It was isolated in 1886 by Henri Moisson in Paris (BriH 1995), and five years later, F. Erhardt in Germany recommended that pregnant women and children should take fluorine pastilles at second dentition. Moreover, F. Erhardt was the first to observe that fluorine fortified dogs dental enamel (Anke 1991). However surprising it is, now as before, the plastic role of fluorine is beyond doubt. Nevertheless, in spite of the availability of a wide class of flu-orous compounds with a pronounced physiological activity, some of the aspects of its biological effects are still not clear. 

Fluorinated surfactants have unique properties and are therefore indispensable. A potential effect on the environment can be reduced by (1) using synergism with hydrocarbon-type surfactants to minimize the concentration of fluorinated surfactant where feasible and (2) removing fluorinated surfactants from wastewater at industrial sites by adsorption or converting the surfactant by partial biodegradation to physiologically inert substances. 

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