Trifluoromethane

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A colorless, nonflammable gas made of carbon, hydrogen and fluorine, used as a refrigerant and in semiconductor etching
2. A colourless fluorinated hydrocarbon gas employed in refrigeration systems and in the etching of silicon-based electronic components
3. A nonflammable, odorless gas containing carbon, hydrogen and three fluorine atoms, applied as a coolant and plasma etching agent

Etymology: Trifluoromethane is a systematic chemical name, built the way chemists name compounds: "tri-" (three), "fluoro-" (relating to fluorine), and "methane" (the simplest hydrocarbon, CH4). Its formula is CHF3, which is methane with three of its four hydrogen atoms replaced by fluorine atoms. The name therefore describes the molecule's structure directly, with no story of a coiner or a single first use behind it. The compound is also known as methyl fluoride, a name that reflects the same structure from a different angle. "Methyl" is the group CH3 derived from methane, so methyl fluoride is a methyl group bonded to one fluorine atom. Trifluoromethane, by contrast, carries three fluorines on the same carbon. The two names describe the same substance in different naming systems, one based on substitution of the parent hydrocarbon and one based on a simpler radical-plus-halide pattern.