Frédéric Swarts

Frédéric Jean Edmond Swarts (2 September 1866 – 6 September 1940) was a Belgian chemist who prepared the first chlorofluorocarbon, CF₂Cl₂ (Freon-12)^[1] as well as several other related compounds. He was a professor of civil engineering at the University of Ghent. In addition to his work on organofluorine chemistry, he authored the textbook "Cours de Chimie Organique."^[2] He was the son of Theodore Swarts (chemist, *1839 Antwerpen; †1911 Kortenberg, Belgium) and a colleague of Leo Baekeland. He is also known for developing Swarts Reaction which is used to form alkyl fluorides from alkyl halides with the help of fluorine metal salts.^{[citation needed]}