Author: Kevin Reed
B.S. Chemical Engineering from New Mexico Tech. Current ChemE PhD student at UT Austin, focusing on synthetic biology and metabolic engineering. Aside from music, science education is one of my greatest passions and I hope to share fascinating topics with the world through platforms like Chembites.

Using Biology to Harness the Power of Fluorine Chemistry

What comes to mind when you think of fluorine? The sodium fluoride in toothpaste and mouthwash is the typical, everyday example that most people think of, but fluorine plays a large role in many other compounds. Pure fluorine is a highly reactive and poisonous gas, while fluorinated compounds are incredibly stable, fairly nontoxic, and used in many real-life applications.