During the past fifteen years commercial interest in compounds containing carbon fluorine bonds has burgeoned beyond all expectations, mainly owing to business opportunities arising from work on biologically active fluoroorganics-particularly agrochemicals, the relentless search for new markets for fluoropolymers and fluoro carbon fluids, developments in the field of medical diagnostics, and the drive to find replacements for ozone-depleting CFCs and Halon fire-extinguishing agents. Judging the situation to warrant the publication of a comprehensive collection of up-to-date reviews dealing with commercial organofluorine compounds within a single volume of manageable size (and hence reasonable cost), we were delighted to be invited by Plenum Publishing Corporation to produce a suitable book. In order to provide an authentic and wide-ranging account of current commercial applications of fluoroorganic materials, it clearly was necessary to assemble a sizeable team of knowledgeable contributing authors selected almost entirely from industry. Through their efforts we have been able to produce an almost complete coverage of the modem organofluorochemicals business in a manner designed to attract a reader ship ranging from experts in the field, through chemists and technologists currently unaware of the extent of industrial involvement with fluoroorganics, to students of applied chemistry. Promised chapters dedicated to perfluoroolefin oxides and 18F labeling of radiopharmaceuticals failed to materialize. This is somewhat unfortunate in view of our aim to achieve comprehensive coverage of the subject.
