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Chemistry

Why Fluorinated Hydrocarbons Boil Lower Than Their Hydrocarbon Counterparts

Quick fact

Perfluorohexane (C6F14) boils at 57 °C, while hexane (C6H14) boils at 69 °C—despite fluorinated molecules being over twice as massive.

Why this is interesting

You might expect that adding fluorine atoms to a hydrocarbon would make it boil at a higher temperature—after all, it makes the molecule much heavier. Yet, many fluorinated hydrocarbons boil at dramatically lower temperatures than their unmodified counterparts. Why would a larger, heavier molecule be more eager to escape into the gas phase?