The German physician Georgius Agricola describe how miners used rocks called fluores (fluorspar) to aid smelting of ores.
Fluorine was mentioned first in history in 1670 when instructions were written regarding its used to etch glass, using green fluorspar (fluorite), which is calcium fluoride (CaF2).
In the early 1700s chemists tried to identify the material that etched glass.
In 1886 a French chemist, Ferdinand Frederic Henri Moissan (1852-1907) first to isolate fluorine. He used platinum electrodes to produce fluorine from the electrolysis of potassium fluoride (KF) an hydrofluoric acid (HF).
In 1872 Crighton-Browne in postulated that a deficiency of fluorine, caused by the refinement of wheat for bread making was responsible for an increase in dental carries in that country.
In 1892, Belgian chemist F. Swarts discovered the Cl/F exchange chemistry of antimony trifluoride (SbF3), which along with other similar type of halogen exchange reactions are commonly called Swarts reaction.
The reaction has been improved to be an industrial process to prepare organofluorine compounds.
The name fluores is derived from the Latin fleure, meaning to flow and in smelting the fluores acted as a kind of solvent, reducing the amount of heat required.
Discovery of fluorine
