Dodecafluoroheptanol: Tetrafluoroethylene Joined to Methanol (Joyce 1951)

Heated with methanol and a little peroxide, tetrafluoroethylene adds on to the methanol in short chains: H(CF2CF2)nCH2OH, with n from 1 to 12. Steam carries off the short ones; distilling the liquid part sorts them by boiling point. The cut at 169–170 °C, three units long, is the start of a fluorine soap used to make PTFE dispersions. Source: R. M. Joyce (du Pont), US 2,559,628 (1951), Example IV. The steam-distillation and fractionating apparatus is ours. Picture drawn by Youblob.