Fluoroalcohols are

organofluorine compound Organofluorine chemistry describes the chemistry of organofluorine compounds, organic compounds that contain a carbon–fluorine bond. Organofluorine compounds find diverse applications ranging from oil and water repellents to pharmaceuticals, ...

s consisting of an

alcohol Alcohol may refer to: Common uses * Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds * Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life ** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages ** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...

functional group In organic chemistry, a functional group is any substituent or moiety (chemistry), moiety in a molecule that causes the molecule's characteristic chemical reactions. The same functional group will undergo the same or similar chemical reactions r ...

with at least one C-F bond. These compounds often have distinctive solvent properties.

Perfluoroalcohols

Most primary and secondary perfluoroalcohols are unstable, for example

trifluoromethanol Trifluoromethanol is a synthetic organic compound with the formula . It is also referred to as perfluoromethanol or trifluoromethyl alcohol. The compound is the simplest perfluoroalcohol. The substance is a colorless gas, which is unstable at roo ...

eliminates

hydrogen fluoride Hydrogen fluoride (fluorane) is an Inorganic chemistry, inorganic compound with chemical formula . It is a very poisonous, colorless gas or liquid that dissolves in water to yield hydrofluoric acid. It is the principal industrial source of fluori ...

, forming

carbonyl fluoride Carbonyl fluoride is a chemical compound with the formula . It is a carbon oxohalide. This gas, like its analog phosgene, is colourless and highly toxic. The molecule is planar with ''C''2v symmetry, bond lengths of 1.174 Å (C=O) and 1.312 Å ( ...

. This reaction is reversible. : Stable perfluorinated alcohols include nonafluoro-tert-butyl alcohol ((CF₃)₃COH) and

pentafluorophenol Pentafluorophenol is the organofluorine compound (specifically a fluoroalcohol) with the formula . This is the perfluorinated analogue of phenol. It is a white solid that melts just above room temperature, and smells of phenol. With a pKa, p''K''a ...

(C₆F₅OH).

Partially fluorinated alcohols

Numerous partially fluorinated alcohols are known and have useable stabilities. Trifluoroethanol and

hexafluoroisopropanol Hexafluoroisopropanol, commonly abbreviated HFIP, is the organic compound with the formula (CF3)2CHOH. This fluoroalcohol finds use as solvent in organic chemistry. Hexafluoro-2-propanol is transparent to UV light with high density, low viscosi ...

are used as solvents in research.{{cite journal , doi=10.1038/s41570-017-0088, title=Hexafluoroisopropanol as a Highly Versatile Solvent , year=2017 , last1=Colomer , first1=Ignacio , last2=Chamberlain , first2=Anna E. R. , last3=Haughey , first3=Maxwell B. , last4=Donohoe , first4=Timothy J. , journal=Nature Reviews Chemistry , volume=1 , issue=11 , url=https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:72dc250a-656e-4367-827d-17835acc28ba

Fluorotelomer alcohol Fluorotelomer alcohols, or FTOHs, are fluorotelomers with an alcohol functional group. They are volatile precursors to perfluorinated carboxylic acids, such as PFOA and PFNA, and other compounds. Naming Commonly, an individual fluorotelomer alc ...

s are precursors to perfluorocarboxylic acids. Pirkle's alcohol is used a

chiral shift reagent In analytical chemistry, a chiral derivatizing agent (CDA), also known as a chiral resolving reagent, is a derivatization reagent that is a chiral auxiliary used to convert a mixture of enantiomers into diastereomers in order to analyze the quant ...

nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, most commonly known as NMR spectroscopy or magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), is a Spectroscopy, spectroscopic technique based on re-orientation of Atomic nucleus, atomic nuclei with non-zero nuclear sp ...

References

Organofluorides Alcohols