Abstract
Electron transfer from a reducing agent to a fluorocarbon leads to cleavage of the strong and supposedly inert CF bond. This process can be used to defluorinate perfluoroalkanes to produce perfluoroarenes or ‐alkenes catalytically under mild conditions. The transfer of two electrons from alkali metal oxalates to chlorofluoro‐carbons leads to complete degradation at relatively low temperatures [Eq. (a)]. equation image