ABSTRACT
The first major work in the field of fluoroolefin chemistry was that of Swarts, done near the end of the 19th century [1-3], which included the reaction
C Cl SbF SbCl
where a is the number of chlorine atoms converted to fluorine atoms by the reaction. This reaction gave the early fluorine chemists a tool to prepare many fluoroalkanes. Thus, they were able to prepare a variety of chlorofluoroethanes from hexachloroethane. Investigators working on refrigerants used this method for the synthesis of compounds later known commercially as Freon, produced by E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. These materials have subsequently become precursors of most of the fluoroolefins, which represent the most important group for the manufacture of commercial fluoropolymers.
