GoKawiilFluorine, one of the smallest atoms of the elements in the periodic table, brings impressive properties to tens of thousands of products. Adding an atom of fluorine into a drug molecule can make it more potent by slowing its breaking down in the body. The electrolytes used to shuttle ions through lithium-ion batteries are fluorine-containing materials. Refrigerants for keeping food fresh, medicines safe and buildings cool, often contain fluorine, as do propellants used to release gases in asthma inhalers and fire extinguishers. Fluorine is also a key component in the stable polymers used for non-stick cookware coatings and waterproof materials.
Nature Index 2026 Chemistry
But fluorine’s ability to add stability has a dangerous legacy: ‘forever chemicals’, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), that have infiltrated every inch of Earth, from breastmilk to the snowy heights of Mount Everest. Some of the most problematic PFASs that have been used in non-stick cookware and waterproof coatings, as well as other applications, are toxic to humans, disrupting hormones and causing problems for parts of the body such as the liver and thyroid.
Getting fluorine into products also relies on a hazardous, energy-intensive process that takes the mineral fluorite — commercially known as fluorspar and with the chemical name calcium fluoride — and heats it with concentrated sulfuric acid to make hydrogen fluoride (HF): an extremely corrosive poisonous gas that forms hydrofluoric acid when dissolved in water. This allows the fluorine locked in the mineral to become reactive. “I would argue that HF is probably one of the most dangerous chemicals that we produce on this planet,” says Veronique Gouverneur, a chemist at the University of Oxford, UK.
The conundrum of balancing fluorine’s immense utility with the hazards of isolating and using it is something that chemists have grappled with for centuries. But the sheer ubiquity of fluorine-infused chemicals, and the growing realization that many compounds are having lasting ill effects on the environment and human health, is spurring a wave of research projects exploring alternatives to current processes and products.
Ground up
Gouverneur wants to tackle problems with fluorine chemistry at the start of the process: before fluorite has even been treated. “Calcium fluoride is not soluble in water or organic solvents, so it’s very difficult to do chemistry directly with calcium fluoride,” she says. In 2023, however, chemists in her lab worked out a way to release fluorine from fluorspar without needing to make HF: by using physical force1. Grinding fluorspar and a potassium phosphate salt together creates friction, which provides the energy needed to make the reaction happen. This mechanochemistry approach is being commercialized by a start-up, Fluorok, based in Oxford and co-founded by Gouverneur. “It’s really a paradigm shift,” says Gouverneur, “because now I can prepare Lipitor [a commonly used drug for lowering cholesterol that contains fluorine] in my lab, from this”, holding up a lump of fluorspar.
Her group has also used the mechanical approach to break up PFASs and regain valuable raw materials. By milling PFASs with potassium phosphate salts, they were able to make potassium fluoride (KF) and dipotassium monofluorophosphate (K 2 PO 3 F), fluoride salts that are commonly used by the chemicals industry2.
Fluorok’s chief executive and co-founder, Gabriele Pupo, explains that a big determiner of the company’s early success will be whether he can persuade people that its technology can offer an alternative route. “Everybody remains with the idea there is only one path to make these materials: through HF,” he says. Taking away the need to use a gas as hazardous as HF is not only safer but cheaper too, Pupo says. “Every time you have to deal with something highly corrosive, extremely toxic, very difficult to handle,” he says. “Our process is considerably lower cost compared to the industry standard.”
Other researchers are trying to make fluorine chemistry a circular process, where end-of-life fluoropolymers or other fluorinated chemicals can be transformed back into the useful starting materials that they were built from in the first place.
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