The muon as a proton analogue in Fluoromix, a new fluorinating agent that bypasses HF

Industrially synthesized fluorochemicals are currently prepared by a method that involves hydrogen fluoride (HF) which is toxic and dangerous. A new method that avoids this has been recently developed. The new fluorinating agent, Fluoromix, can produce many fluorochemicals and the techniques can be extended to creating a circular fluorine economy. This muSR experiment exploits the sensitivity of the muon to fluorine nuclear moments, as well as the muon's strong affinity to stop close to electronegative fluoride ions, to reveal information about how Fluoromix works as a fluorinating agent. We will use our previously developed methods of determining the muon site by measuring the spectroscopic signature that results from quantum-mechanically entangling the muon spin with nearby fluorine nuclear moments, thereby establishing the likely location of protons interacting with Fluoromix, as well as estimating which component of Fluoromix is more active as a fluorinating agent.

当前工业合成含氟化学品的制备方法均需使用有毒且危险的氟化氢（HF）。近期研究者开发出了一种无需使用该物质的全新制备方法。新型氟化试剂Fluoromix可用于合成多种含氟化学品，且该技术可拓展用于构建循环氟经济。本项缪子自旋共振（muSR）实验利用了缪子对氟原子核磁矩的敏感性，以及缪子易于停留在电负性氟离子附近的特性，以揭示Fluoromix作为氟化试剂的作用机制。我们将采用此前开发的方法，通过测量缪子自旋与邻近氟原子核磁矩发生量子纠缠所产生的光谱特征，确定缪子的结合位点；借此明确与Fluoromix相互作用的质子的可能位置，并评估Fluoromix中哪种组分的氟化活性更强。