Abbreviations PFTBA | ||
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Perfluorotributylamine (PFTBA), also referred to as FC43, is a liquid with a molecular structure consisting of three butyl moieties connected to an amine center, in which the hydrogen atoms have all been replaced with fluorine. The compound is produced by the electronic industry, along with other perfluoroalkyl amines. It is used as an ingredient in Fluosol and in some Fluorinert coolant liquids.
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Environmental Impact
In 2013, this liquid was shown by researchers at the University of Toronto to be a greenhouse gas, with warming properties more than 7,000 times that of carbon dioxide over a 100 year period, and that, as such, it is the most potent greenhouse gas ever discovered. Its concentration in the atmosphere is approximately 0.18 parts per trillion. The researchers also reported that the gas can persist in the atmosphere for up to 500 years.
Industrial Uses
The compound is used in larger quantities in several electronic applications, such as liquid burn-in, testing, environmental stress screening and vapor phase soldering processes as well as an indicator fluid in leak testing and as a heat transfer fluid for thermal shock testing.
Mass Spectrometer Tuning Compound
The compound is commonly used in small quantities (1 ml) as a calibration chemical in gas chromatography when the analytical technique uses mass spectrometry as a detector to identify and quantify chemical compounds in gases or liquids. When undergoing ionization in the mass spectrometer, the compound decomposes in a repeatable pattern to form fragments of specific masses, which can be used to tune the mass response and accuracy of the mass spectrometer. Most commonly used ions are those with approximate mass of 69, 131, 219 and 502 atomic mass units.
