Difluoromethane

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difluoromethane
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difluoromethane

Difluoromethane, also called HFC-32 or R-32, is an organic compound of the di-halogenoalkane variety. It is based on methane, except that two of the four hydrogen atoms have been replaced by fluorine atoms. Hence the formula is CH2F2 instead of CH4 for normal methane.

The "di" prefix implies that two hydrogens have been replaced (it would be "tri" for three, or "tetra" for all four), and the "fluoro" part denotes what atoms the hydrogens have been replaced by - in this case, fluorine. This would be "chloro" for chlorine, "bromo" for bromine, or "iodo" for iodine. Finally, the "methane" part of the name tells us that this molecule would be methane if it had all hydrogen atoms instead of the halogens.

Difluoromethane is a refrigerant that has zero ozone depletion potential. Difluoromethane in an azeotropic mixture with pentafluoroethane is known as R-410A, a common replacement for various chlorofluorocarbons (aka Freon) in new refrigerant systems.


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