Chlorine monofluoride via oxidation. For example, it adds fluorine and chlorine to the carbon of carbon monoxide, yielding carbonyl chloride fluoride: Chlorine monofluoride Chlorine monofluoride is a volatile interhalogen compound with the chemical formula ClF. It is a colourless gas at room temperature and is stable even at high temperatures. When cooled to −100 °C, ClF condenses as a pale yellow liquid. Many of its properties are intermediate between its parent halogens, Cl and F. Chlorine monofluoride is a versatile fluorinating agent, converting metals and non-metals to their fluorides and releasing Cl in the process. For example, it converts tungsten to tungsten
Fluorine other elements from carbon to magnesium are twenty or more times as common. This is because stellar nucleosynthesis processes bypass fluorine, and any fluorine atoms otherwise created have high nuclear cross sections, allowing further fusion with hydrogen or helium to generate oxygen or neon respectively. Beyond this transient existence, three explanations have been proposed for the presence of fluorine: Fluorine is the thirteenth most common element in Earth's crust at 600–700 ppm (parts per million) by mass. Elemental fluorine in Earth's atmosphere would easily react with atmospheric water vapor, precluding its natural occurrence; it is found only in combined mineral