Overview on the history of organofluorine chemistry from the viewpoint of material industry.

Fluorine (from "le fluor", meaning "to flow") is a second row element of Group 17 in the periodic table. When bound to carbon it forms the strongest bond in organic chemistry to give organofluorine compounds. The scientific field treating them, organofluorine chemistry, started before elemental fluorine itself was isolated. Applying the fruits in academia, industrial organofluorine chemistry has developed over 80 years via dramatic changes during World War II. Nowadays, it provides various materials essential for our society. Recently, it utilizes elemental fluorine itself as a reagent for the introduction of fluorine atoms to organic molecules in leading-edge industries. This paper overviews the historical development of organofluorine chemistry especially from the viewpoint of material industry.

[From apprenticeship to Nobel Prize: Henri Moissan's fabulous destiny]. / De l'apprentissage au Prix Nobel: le fabuleux destin d'Henri Moissan.

Born in Paris on September 28, 1852, son of an eastern railways' employee and of a dressmaker, Henri Moissan's secondary schooling in Meaux did not allow him to get access to the sesame diploma "baccalauréat" (GCE). In 1869, he did obtain a special certificate of secondary schooling so that he could become an apprentice in watch making. That could have been the end of the story, but dreadful event for France appeared to have beneficial effects for Moissan. Under the threat of the Prussian army, Moissan's family took refuge near Paris. This gave the young Henri the opportunity to register as a student for the second-class pharmacy diploma, which did not need, at the time, the GCE. Moissan became then a trainee in pharmacy in 1871. Meanwhile, he followed the special schooling of "Ecole de chimie" founded by E. Frémy, and then joined the laboratory of Dehérain at the Museum, where he worked in plant physiology. He finally obtained the famous "baccalauréat" (GCE) and could register as a student in first-class pharmacy. He became a pharmacist as well as a doctor in sciences. In 1883, Moissan was named professor at the school of pharmacy in Paris. In 1886, he isolated fluorine by electrolysis of fluorhydric acid, in the presence of potassium fluoride, at a low temperature. He then studied diamond synthesis and gave a start to high temperature chemistry, designing his famous furnace. These findings and many others allowed Moissan to rise to membership in many learned academies around the world. Crowning achievement, Moissan won the Nobel Prize in 1906. A man of culture, collector of autographs and paintings, he died in 1907. Nothing of that would have been possible if there had not been a second-class pharmacist diploma. The history of Henri Moissan is one of a rise from apprenticeship to the Nobel Prize.

[Henri Moissan, a prestigious chemist]. / Henri Moissan, un chimiste prestigieux.

Way followed by Moissan in the field of inorganic chemistry. Isolation of fluorine and its developments. Artificial diamond production by simultaneous actions of high pressures and high temperatures. Arc electric furnaces, and powerful models enabling temperatures up to 3000 degrees C. High pressures obtained by fast cooling of iron-carbon alloys melted at high temperature. Numerous distinctions from foreign Chemical Societies, of which the Nobel Prize.

Los Halógenos, ¿materia mineral farmacéutica? / Halogens: pharmaceutics mineral materia?

En 1906 se otorga el Premio Nobel de Química a Henri Moissan, primer farmacéuticoy primer francés en recibir tal distinción. Era el broche de oro de un largocapítulo en el que a través de más de cien años, Scheele (1774), Courtois (1813),Balard (1823) y Moissan (1886), todos ellos farmacéuticos, aíslan el cloro, iodo,bromo y flúor, respectivamente. Por esta razón se plantea el título del trabajo enclave de interrogante. La elucidación de su naturaleza demolió la teoría de laacidez de Lavoisier, y el descubrimiento del bromo contribuyó a aportar luz sobrela sistematización de los elementos químicos. Se aportan detalles de la vida de losdescubridores y, de la concesión del Premio Nobel a Moissan, que realizó la proezade domar a la bestia salvaje de los elementos químicos

In 1906 Henri Moissan was the first French person and first pharmacist to beawarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. It was the end of a large and gold chapterin which through more than a century, Scheele (1774), Courtois (1813), Balard(1823) and Moissan (1886), all of them pharmacists, isolated chlorine, iodine, bromine and fluorine, respectively. That is the reason why the title figures as aquestion. The elucidation of the halogen’s nature demolished the Lavoisier’s aciditytheory. Some aspects of the life of the discoverers are given. Moissan was able toisolate and study fluorine, that savage beast among the elements

The Manhattan legacy.

The Manhattan Project was the highly secret American atomic research study which led to the making of the atom bomb. What is not so well known is that before the Project, fluorine was a difficult and dangerous element, while afterwards it became a key ingredient in all the new inhalational anaesthetics. Prior to this, the only practical inhalational agents available apart from nitrous oxide, ethylene and cyclopropane, (and a few others of short-lived popularity like acetylene) were non-halogenated ethers and some chlorinated compounds such as chloroform and ethyl chloride. When chemists learnt how to handle fluorine, a whole new world opened up, first with the 'Freons' as used in refrigeration and then the halogenated anaesthetics. Along the way, many halogenated compounds other than ethers were tried but abandoned, and now we are left effectively with two halogenated ethers. Is this the end of the line for inhalational anaesthesia?

[The scientific contributions of Moissan]. / L'oeuvre scientifique de Moissan.

Two of Moissan's most important contributions to science are presented. 1. Isolation of fluorine and the preparation of various fluorides. 2. High temperature chemistry based on the electrical are furnace. The historical and human aspects as well as the surrounding circumstances are discussed.