Octafluoropropane (C₃F₈) is the

perfluorocarbon Fluorocarbons are chemical compounds with carbon-fluorine bonds. Compounds that contain many C-F bonds often have distinctive properties, e.g., enhanced stability, volatility, and hydrophobicity. Several fluorocarbons and their derivatives are ...

counterpart to the hydrocarbon

propane Propane () is a three-carbon chain alkane with the molecular formula . It is a gas at standard temperature and pressure, but becomes liquid when compressed for transportation and storage. A by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum ref ...

. This non-flammable and non-toxic synthetic substance has applications in

semiconductor A semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity between that of a conductor and an insulator. Its conductivity can be modified by adding impurities (" doping") to its crystal structure. When two regions with different doping level ...

production and medicine. It is also an extremely potent

greenhouse gas Greenhouse gases (GHGs) are the gases in the atmosphere that raise the surface temperature of planets such as the Earth. Unlike other gases, greenhouse gases absorb the radiations that a planet emits, resulting in the greenhouse effect. T ...

Manufacture

Octafluoropropane can be produced either by

electrochemical fluorination Electrochemical fluorination (ECF), or electrofluorination, is a foundational organofluorine chemistry method for the preparation of fluorocarbon-based organofluorine compounds.G. Siegemund, W. Schwertfeger, A. Feiring, B. Smart, F. Behr, H. Vogel, ...

or by the

Fowler process The Fowler process is an industry and laboratory route to fluorocarbons, by fluorinating hydrocarbons or their partially fluorinated derivatives in the vapor phase over cobalt(III) fluoride. Background The Manhattan Project required the productio ...

using cobalt fluoride.

Applications

In the electronics industry, octafluoropropane is mixed with

oxygen Oxygen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group (periodic table), group in the periodic table, a highly reactivity (chemistry), reactive nonmetal (chemistry), non ...

and used as a

plasma etching Plasma etching is a form of plasma processing used to fabricate integrated circuits. It involves a high-speed stream of glow discharge (Plasma (physics), plasma) of an appropriate gas mixture being shot (in pulses) at a sample. The plasma source, ...

material for SiO₂ layers in semiconductor applications, as oxides are selectively etched versus their metal substrates. In medicine, octafluoropropane may compose the gas cores of microbubble contrast agents used in

contrast-enhanced ultrasound Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) is the application of ultrasound contrast medium to traditional medical sonography. Ultrasound contrast agents rely on the different ways in which sound waves are reflected from interfaces between substances. T ...

. Octafluoropropane microbubbles reflect sound waves well and are used to improve the ultrasound signal backscatter. It is used in eye surgery, such as pars plana

vitrectomy Vitrectomy is a surgery to remove some or all of the vitreous humor from the Human eye, eye. Anterior vitrectomy entails removing small portions of the vitreous humor from the front structures of the eye—often because these are tangled in an i ...

procedures where a

retina The retina (; or retinas) is the innermost, photosensitivity, light-sensitive layer of tissue (biology), tissue of the eye of most vertebrates and some Mollusca, molluscs. The optics of the eye create a focus (optics), focused two-dimensional ...

hole or tear is repaired. The gas provides a long-term tamponade, or plug, of a retinal hole or tear and allows re-attachment of the retina to occur over the several days following the procedure. Under the name R-218, octafluoropropane is used in other industries as a component of refrigeration mixtures. It has been featured in some plans for terraforming Mars. With a greenhouse gas effect 24,000 times greater than

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalent bond, covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at norma ...

(CO₂), octafluoropropane could dramatically reduce the time and resources it takes to terraform Mars. It is the active liquid in PICO-2L dark matter bubble detector (joined

PICASSO Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

and COUPP collaborations).

Gallery

File:PFC-218 mm.png, PFC-218 measured by the Advanced Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment
AGAGE
in the lower atmosphere (

troposphere The troposphere is the lowest layer of the atmosphere of Earth. It contains 80% of the total mass of the Atmosphere, planetary atmosphere and 99% of the total mass of water vapor and aerosols, and is where most weather phenomena occur. From the ...

) at stations around the world. Abundances are given as pollution free monthly mean mole fractions in

parts-per-trillion In science and engineering, the parts-per notation is a set of pseudo-units to describe the small values of miscellaneous dimensionless quantity, dimensionless quantities, e.g. mole fraction or mass fraction (chemistry), mass fraction. Since t ...

References

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External links

Red Planet Turning Green?

Perfluoroalkanes Refrigerants Greenhouse gases