Sodium fluoride

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Sodium fluoride

Sodium fluoride is the chemical compound

Chemical compound

A chemical compound is a Chemical substance consisting of two or more different chemical element Chemical bond together in a fixed mass ratio that can be split into simpler substances....
with the formula

Chemical formula

A chemical formula is a way of expressing information about the atoms that constitute a particular chemical compound, and how the relationship between those atoms changes in chemical reactions....
NaF. This colourless solid is the main source of the fluoride

Fluoride

Fluoride is the Redox form of fluorine. Both organic compounds and inorganic compounds containing the chemical element fluorine are considered fluorides....
ion in diverse applications. Sodium fluoride is less expensive and less hygroscopic

Hygroscopy

Hygroscopy is the ability of a substance to attract water molecules from the surrounding Natural environment through either absorption or adsorption....
than potassium fluoride

Potassium fluoride

Potassium fluoride is the chemical compound with the formula KF. After hydrogen fluoride, KF is the primary source of the fluoride ion for applications in manufacturing and in chemistry....
.

The mineral

Mineral

A mineral is a naturally occurring solid formed through Geology processes that has a characteristic chemical composition, a highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties....
form of NaF, villiaumite

Villiaumite

Villiaumite is a mineral composed of sodium fluoride, sodiumfluorine. It is soluble in water and some specimens fluoresce under long and short wave ultraviolet light....
, is moderately rare. It is known from plutonic nepheline syenite

Nepheline syenite

Nephelene syenite is a holocrystalline Intrusion that consists largely of nepheline and alkali feldspar. The rocks are mostly pale colored, grey or pink, and in general appearance they are not unlike granites, but dark green varieties are also known....
rocks.

um fluoride is an ionic compound

Ionic compound

In chemistry, an ionic compound is a chemical compound in which ions are held together in a lattice structure by ionic bonds. Usually, the positively charged portion consists of metal cations and the negatively charged portion is an anion or polyatomic ion....
, dissolving to give separated Na⁺ and F⁻ ions.

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Structure and General properties

Sodium fluoride is an ionic compound

Ionic compound

Sodium chloride

Sodium chloride, also known as common salt, table salt, or halite, is a chemical compound with the chemical formula SodiumChlorine....
) motif where both Na⁺ and F⁻ occupy octahedral coordination sites.

Production

NaF is prepared by neutralizing waste hydrofluoric acid

Hydrofluoric acid

Hydrofluoric acid is a solution of hydrogen fluoride in water. While it is extremely corrosive and dangerous to handle, it is technically a weak acid....
resulting from the production of superphosphate

Superphosphate

Superphosphate is a fertilizer produced by the action of concentrated sulfuric acid on powdered phosphate rock....
fertilizer. It is also generated by treating sodium hydroxide

Sodium hydroxide

Sodium hydroxide , also known as lye, caustic soda and sodium hydrate, is a caustic metallic Base . Sodium hydroxide forms a strong alkaline solution when dissolved in a solvent such as water, however, only the hydroxide ion is basic....
and sodium carbonate

Sodium carbonate

Sodium carbonate , , is a sodium salt of carbonic acid. It most commonly occurs as a crystalline heptahydrate, which readily efflorescence to form a white powder, the monohydrate....
with hydrofluoric acid, followed by concentrating the resulting solutions, sometimes with the addition of alcohols to precipitate the NaF:

HF + NaOH ? NaF + H₂O

From solutions containing HF, sodium fluoride precipitates as the bifluoride salt NaHF₂. Heating the latter releases HF and gives NaF.

HF + NaF NaHF₂

In a 1986 report, the annual, worldwide consumption of NaF was estimated to be several million tonnes.

Applications

Fluoride salts are used to enhance the strength of teeth by the formation of fluorapatite

Fluorapatite

Fluorapatite, often with the alternate spelling of fluoroapatite, is a mineral with the formula Ca53F . Fluorapatite is a hard crystalline solid....
, a naturally occurring component of tooth enamel

Tooth enamel

Tooth enamel is the hardest and most highly mineralized substance of the body, and with dentin, cementum, and Pulp is one of the four major tissues which make up the tooth in vertebrates....
. In the US, sodium fluoride was once used to fluoridate

Water fluoridation

Water fluoridation is the controlled addition of fluoride to a public water supply to reduce tooth decay. Fluoridated water has fluoride at a level that is effective for preventing cavities; this can occur naturally or by adding fluoride....
drinking water but this has been displaced by hexafluorosilicic acid (H₂SiF₆) or the related sodium salt (Na₂SiF₆). Toothpaste

Toothpaste

Toothpaste is a paste or gel dentifrice used to clean and maintain the aesthetics and health of teeth. Toothpaste is used to promote oral hygiene: it can aid in the removal of dental plaque and food from the teeth, aid in the elimination and/or masking of halitosis and deliver active ingredients such as fluoride or xylitol to prevent tooth...
often contains sodium fluoride to prevent cavities

Dental caries

Dental caries, also known as tooth decay, is a disease where bacterial processes damage hard tooth structure . These tissues progressively break down, producing dental cavities ....
.

Alternatively, sodium fluoride is used as a cleaning agent, often to remove iron stains. A variety of specialty chemical applications exist in synthesis and extractive metallurgy

Metallurgy

Metallurgy is a domain of materials science that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic Chemical element, their intermetallics, and their mixtures, which are called alloys....
. The fluoride is the reagent for the synthesis of fluorocarbon

Fluorocarbon

Fluorocarbons, sometimes referred to as perfluorocarbons, are organofluorine compounds that contain only carbon and fluorine bonded together in strong carbon?fluorine bonds....
s. Representative substrates include electrophilic chlorides including acyl chloride

Acyl chloride

In organic chemistry, an acyl chloride is an organic compound which is a reactive derivative of a carboxylic acid. As part of its molecular structure, an acyl chloride has the reactive functional group -Carbonyl-Chlorine and has the general formula RCOCl, where R is an organic radical group....
s, sulfur chlorides, and phosphorus chloride. Like other fluorides, sodium fluoride finds use in desilylation in organic synthesis

Organic synthesis

Organic synthesis is a special branch of chemical synthesis and is concerned with the construction of organic compounds via organic reactions. Organic_chemistry molecules can often contain a higher level of complexity compared to purely Inorganic_chemistry compounds, so the synthesis of organic compounds has developed into one of the most im...
.

In medical imaging, fluorine-18

Fluorine-18

Fluorine-18 is a fluorine radioisotope which is an important source of positrons. It has a mass of 18.0009380 u and its half-life is 109.771 minutes....
-labelled sodium fluoride is used in positron emission tomography

Positron emission tomography

Positron emission tomography is a nuclear medicine medical imaging technique which produces a three-dimensional image or picture of functional processes in the body....
(PET). Relative to conventional bone scintigraphy carried out with gamma camera

Gamma camera

A gamma camera is a device used to image gamma radiation emitting radioisotopes, a technique known as scintigraphy. The applications of scintigraphy include early drug development and nuclear medicine to view and analyse images of the human body of the distribution of medically injected, inhaled, or ingested radionuclides emitting gamma rays...
s or SPECT systems, PET offers more sensitivity and spatial resolution. A disadvantage of PET is that fluorine-18 labelled sodium fluoride is less widely available than conventional technetium-99m

Technetium-99m

Technetium-99m is a metastable nuclear isomer of technetium-99, symbolized as 99mTc. The "m" indicates that this is a Nuclear isomer#Metastable isomers, i.e....
-labelled radiopharmaceuticals.

Sodium fluoride is used to conserve tissue samples in biochemistry and medicinal testing as fluoride ions stop glycolysis

Glycolysis

Glycolysis is the metabolic pathway that converts glucose, C6H12O6, into pyruvate, C3H5O3-....
by inhibiting the enzyme enolase

Enolase

Enolase, also known as phosphopyruvate dehydratase, is a metalloenzyme responsible for the catalysis of 2-phosphoglycerate to phosphoenolpyruvate , the ninth and penultimate step of glycolysis....
. Sodium fluoride is often used together with iodoacetic acid, which inhibits the enzyme aldolase

Aldolase

Aldolase A is an enzyme which catalyses one of the aldol reactions: The substrate , fructose 1,6-bisphosphate is broken down into glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate and dihydroxyacetone phosphate ....
.

Safety

Sodium fluoride is classed as toxic by both inhalation

Inhalation

Inhalation is the movement of air from the external environment, through the air ways, and into the alveoli.Inhalation begins with the onset of contraction of the diaphragm , which results in expansion of the intrapleural space and an increase in negative pressure according to Boyle's Law....
(of dusts or aerosols) and ingestion

Ingestion

Ingestion is the consumption of a substance by an organism. In animals, it normally is accomplished by taking in the substance through the mouth into the gastrointestinal tract, such as through eating or drinking....
. In high enough doses, it has been shown to affect the heart and circulatory system, and the lethal dose for a 70 kg human is estimated at 5–10 g.

External links

at Scorecard, the pollution information site

Sodium fluoride

Structure and General properties

Production

Applications

Safety

See also

External links