The present book is essentially based on the lectures on the chemistry of organic compounds of fluorine that I gave in 1969 at Virginia Polytechnic Institute in Blacksburg, Virginia, as a graduate course. References to material published to the end of 1969 are included. The book is primarily meant to provide the background for such a course, and, at the same time, to be a brief survey of recent knowledge in, and an introduction to deeper study of, this area of chemistry, which has been treated in a number of com prehensive monographs. I would like to thank Professor S. C. Cohen, Syracuse University, for the compilation of the data on mass spectra and nuclear magnetic res onance spectra, and my son, Tomas Hudlicky, and my daughter, Eva Hudlickci, for their help with the indexes. MILOS HUDLICKY February 13, 1970 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, Virginia vii Contents CHAPTER 1. Introduction ......................................................... 1 Development of Fluorine Chemistry ......................................... .