Synthesis of the first chlorofluorocarbons
Síntesis de los primeros clorofluorocarburos
- Date
- 1892 · confidence medium
- Place
- Ghent, Belgium
- Credited to
- Frédéric Swarts
- Field
- Matter & energy
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
Swarts synthesised the first chlorofluorocarbons by substituting chlorine with fluorine using antimony trifluoride; almost forty years later, Thomas Midgley Jr. reinvented and commercialised these compounds as refrigerants under the Freon brand.
Although Swarts synthesised the first CFCs in 1892, their mass use as refrigerants stems from Thomas Midgley Jr.'s independent rediscovery in 1928.
What it led to
- Non-toxic refrigerants and propellants in mass 20th-century use
- Discovery of stratospheric ozone depletion in the 1970s-80s