David's mention of fluorinating reminded me of
this entertaining post in a series entitled "Things I won't work with". FOOF is extraordinary and not a little horrifying, and the few experimental scientists who've made it and played with it are surely insane... even in the chemical world
Quote:
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"And he's just getting warmed up, if that's the right phrase to use for something that detonates things at -180C (that's -300 Fahrenheit, if you only have a kitchen thermometer). The great majority of Streng's reactions have surely never been run again. The paper goes on to react FOOF with everything else you wouldn't react it with: ammonia ("vigorous", this at 100K), water ice (explosion, natch), chlorine ("violent explosion", so he added it more slowly the second time)..."
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