Hexafluoropropylene oxide

Perfluoropolyethers emerged on the market ia the early 1970s however, for the next 15 years there were only two basic stmctures known. The first perfluoropolyether was the homopolymer of hexafluoropropylene oxide produced by Du Pont having the stmcture... 

Perfluoroepoxid.es were first prepared ia the late 1950s by Du Pont Co. Subsequent work on these compounds has taken place throughout the world and is the subject of a number of reviews (1 5). The main use of these epoxides is as intermediates in the preparation of other fluorinated monomers. Although the polymerisation of the epoxides has been described (6—12), the resulting homopolymers and their derivatives are not significant commercial products. Almost all the work on perfluoroepoxides has been with three compounds tetrafluoroethylene oxide (TFEO), hexafluoropropylene oxide (HFPO), and perfluoroisobutylene oxide (PIBO). Most of this work has dealt with HFPO, the most versatile and by far the most valuable of this class of materials (4). 

Hexafluoropropylene Oxide HFPO is the most important of the perfluoroepoxides and has been synthesized by almost all of the methods noted. Many attempts have been made to polymerize HFPO (6,8). The most successful has been the reaction of HFPO with fluoride ion at low temperature to give a series of oligomeric acid fluorides which have been end capped to yield stable fluids (eq. 11, where X = H,F). 

Prepa.ra.tlon There are five methods for the preparation of long-chain perfluorinated carboxyUc acids and derivatives electrochemical fluorination, direct fluorination, telomerization of tetrafluoroethylene, oligomerization of hexafluoropropylene oxide, and photooxidation of tetrafluoroethylene and hexafluoropropylene. 

Fluorinated ether-containing dicarboxyhc acids have been prepared by direct fluorination of the corresponding hydrocarbon (17), photooxidation of tetrafluoroethylene, or by fluoride ion-cataly2ed reaction of a diacid fluoride such as oxalyl or tetrafluorosuccinyl fluorides with hexafluoropropylene oxide (46,47). Equation 8 shows the reaction of oxalyl fluoride with HEPO. A difunctional ether-containing acid fluoride derived from HEPO contains regular repeat units of perfluoroisopropoxy group and is terminated by two alpha-branched carboxylates. 

In addition to the fluoroplastics and fluororubbers already described other fluoropolymers have been marketed. Polymers of hexafluoropropylene oxide are marketed by Du Pont (Krytox). These materials have a low molecular weight (2000-7000) and are either oils or greases. The oils are uses as lubricants, heat transfer fluids and non-flammable oils for diffusion pumps. The greases are also used as lubricants. They have good heat and oil resistance but it is said that explosions may result from contact with the surfaces aluminium or magnesium cuttings. 

A particularly important process for the synth sis of jluorinated monomers is attack of functionalized perfluoroalkoxides onto hexafluoropropylene oxide [271, 272, 273, 274] (equation 60) or other fluorinated epoxides [275, 276], resulting in ring-opening ol the epoxide and formation of a new perfluoroalkoxide or acid fluoride... 

Fluoride ion can also initiate ring opening of hexafluoropropylene oxide to give a heptafluoropropoxide, which can react in turn with the epoxide to give dimers or higher oligomers that are precursors to perfluorinated stable fluids [277, 27S, 279] (equation 61). 

Among the many methods of generating difluorocarbene, the treatment of bromodifluoromethylphosphonium bromides with potassium or cesium fluoride is particularly useful at room temperature or below [II, 12 13] The sodium iodide promoted decomposition of phenyl(trifluoromethyl)mercury is very effective at moderate temperatures [S, 14] Hexafluoropropylene oxide [/5] and chlorodifluo-roacetate salts [7] are excellent higher temperature sources of difluorocarbene... 

Hexafluoropropylene oxide (HFPO), which decomposes reversibly to di-fluorocarbene and trifluoroacetyl fluonde with a half-life of about 6 h at 165 °C [30], is a versatile reagent. Its pyrolysis with olefins is normally carried out at 180-2(X) °C, and yields are usually good with either electron-nch or electron-poor olefins [31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37] (Table 2). The high reaction temperatures allow the eyclopropanation of very electron poor double bonds [58] (equation 10) but can result in rearranged products [39, 40, 41] (equations 11-13)... 

Table 2. gem-Difluorocyclopropanes from Alkenes and Hexafluoropropylene Oxide... 

Succinates (e.g., dicyclohexyl succinate) Hexafluoropropylene oxide (HFPO) dimers and trimers Fluorochloro compounds having CFC12 Malonic acids C(0)CH2C(0)0CH3 Cyclic sulfides... 

A number of useful reviews have appeared in the course of the last few years, and a number of chemicals, such as vitamin C, p-tetralone, hexafluoropropylene oxide, piperidine, glyoxalic acid, pinacol, p-hydroxypropiophenone, sebacic acid, p-anisaldehyde, maltol/ethyl maltol. Rose oxide, linalool, perfluorooctanoic acid, hydroquinone, etc., that are commercially made (or can be made) electrochemically have been catalogued. 

Afonso, M. Dos Santos et al., Chem.Abs., 1987, 107, 175302 The thermal homogeneous chain reaction to give mainly octafluoropropane and hexafluoropropylene oxide becomes explosive above a minimum oxygen pressure of 26 mbar. 

Hexafluoropropylene -> Hexafluoropropylene oxide l-(4-fiuorophenyl)-l-(2-chlorophenyl)ethylene -> l-(4-fluorophenyl)-1 -(2-chlorophenyl)ethylene oxide Europe 5 PbO, anode... 

Hoechst has used electrosynthesis since 1985 to produce roughly 100 t/year hexafluoropropylene oxide [116]. 

Peduoropolyethers, which constitute special class of fluoropolymer, are useful as lubricants,1 elastomers,2 and heat-transfer fluids under demanding conditions. Several commerical products are available, which are generally prepared by ring-opening polymerization of hexafluoropropylene oxide or by the random copolymerization oftetrafluoroethylene and hexafluoropropylene with oxygen under ultraviolet irradiation.3 Direct fluorination of hydrocarbon ethers has been reported4 but must be done very slowly under carefully controlled... 

In order to minimize the degradation of macromolecules, the choice of solvent is not a trivial matter. Hydrogen-containing solvents are obviously not suitable, but even halogenated ones such as CFC13 or CC12FCF2C1, usually stable to fluorine, can react violently with this element when irradiated at temperatures near 0°C. We chose two perfluorinated solvents that have been proven safe and suitable for radical fluorination perfluoro-2-(butyl)-tetrahydro-duran (FC-75 Fluorinert from 3M) and hexafluoropropylene oxide (HFPO) oligomers known as Krytox +... 

Perfluoropolyethers emerged on the market in the early 1970s. The first perfluoropolyether was the homopolymer of hexafluoropropylene oxide produced by DuPont, which has the structure [—CF2CF(CF3)0—] and this new lubricant material was called Krytox.31,32 Krytox was and is used in most of the vacuum pumps and diffusion oil pumps for the microelectronics industry because it does not produce any hydrocarbon or fluorocarbon vapor contamination. It also has important applications in the lubrication of computer tapes and in other data processing as well as military and space applications. 

Figure 23 shows a biphasic toluene/perfluoro-2-butyltetrahydrofuran (Fluoro-inert FC-75) mixture containing dendrimer-encapsulated Pd nanoparticles complexed with poly(hexafluoropropylene oxide-co-difluoromethylene oxide) monocarboxylic acid prepared via the type of electrostatic modification de-... 

Fig. 23. This photograph shows a two-phase system consisting of (top phase) toluene and (bottom phase) perfluoro-2-butyltetrahydrofuran (Fluoroinert FC-75).The dark color (brown) in the bottom phase indicates that the dendrimer-encapsulated Pd nanoparticles, complexed with poly (hexafluoropropylene oxide-co-difluoromethylene oxide) monocarboxylic acid, are selectively extracted into the fluorous phase. No detectable color was observed in the organic phase. Reprinted with permission from Ref. 103 Copyright 2000 American Chemical Society...

The chemistry of perfluoro(2-methyloxirane) (hexafluoropropylene oxide) has been comprehensively reviewed, including its isomerization to hexafluoroacetone or propionyl fluoride.28 The rearrangements of polyfluorooxiranes with Lewis acids have been reviewed by Krespan and Petrov.29 Fluoride ion and other Lewis bases rearrange tetrafluorooxirane and monosubstituted perfluorooxiranes to acyl fluorides, and symmetrically disubstituted perfluorooxiranes to ketones (Scheme 9).30... 

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