Evening star., 1946-09-11
F|uorineAgeP Predicted
By Chemists in Report
On Tanning Of Element
By Thomos R. Henry
Sfor Staff CoKrssnnndsnf

CHICAGO. Sept. 1.-THE wild
beast of the elements has been
haltered and harnessed.
Ahead now lies the f1uorine age.
Chemists see prospects In some far
off future of a f1uorine world roughly
paralleling the hydrocarbon world
of life and Immediately many
strange compounds of value to
science and industry. 1t all started
with the earliest researches on the
atomic bomb.
Fluorine is one of the more abun-
dant of the 90 elements. It is a
highly poisonous greenish-yellow
gas and about the most corrosive
material in nature. Although it Is
about as plentiful in the earth's
surface as carbon itself or hydrogen,
it has been practically impossible
to keep long in captivity since it
will combine almost Immediately
with most of the other elements and
eat its way through about any metal
except gold. platinum and copper.
Planned to Use Gold.
Back in 1941, when the lid of
secrecy first was placed on all ex-
periments with the flssure Of ura-
MUM, this reporter was told con-
fidentially by a leader in the field
that chemists were in despair over
the possibility of separating the rare
U-235, the explosive uranium isotope,
from ordinary uranium. The only
possibility then seemed to be getting
uranium in the form of gas. The
only gaseous form of the heaviest
of the elements was in combination
with fluorine and enormous con-
tainers of gold would be required
for storage. The gas would eat its
way through about anything else.
When it was suggested that the
gold be taken from Fort Knox for
the purpose the informant turned
pale Who, he demanded, had re-
vealed precisely what was being dis
cussed in the utmost secrecy?
In the months that followed, ways
were found to halter flourine with
out using the Fort Knox gold, and
other means of separating the
uranium isotope were found. But
the f1ourine work, it turns out. was
all profit. Now it can be produced
and stored successfully in pure form
The accomplishments to date and
prospects for the future were the
subject of more than dozen reports
presented before the American
Chemical Society here today.
Combines with Most Elements.
Because it will combine with al
most any other element, all sorts of,
substances hitherto unknown on
earth can be produced, now that it
is possible to bring about these COM
binations under controlled condi-
tions For example, it very easily
enters into combinations with car
bon, the basic element of life. BY
controlling the amounts of fluorine
and carbon entering such combina-
tions and the conditions under
which they are formed, a vast array
of so-called hydrocarbons can be
made.
The cornerstone of life is the
Observation-Disclosures of hydro
gen and carbon. All coal and
petroleum is composed of combina-
tions of hydrocarbons. They form
the building blocks of the living
world. They are the units of all
organic chemistry. It so happened
that carbon and hydrogen entered
into combinations very easily and
that made possible the world as 1t
exists today.
But, chemists reported today. It
now seems possible to form a parallel
series of combinations of f1uorine
and carbon, with as many f1uor-
carbons as hydrocarbons.
Large new industries eventually
will be based on these, DR.. J. H.
Simons of the Pennsylvania State
College told the chemists.
These fuorocarbon compounds,
he said, have great resistance to
heat and chemical action. They
neither burn. corrode metals no.
deteriorate. They are gases, liquids
and solids. They have physical
properties, such as freezing and
boiling points, similar to the hydro