Fluorine (9F) has 19 known isotopes ranging from to and two isomers ( and ). Only fluorine-19 is stable and naturally occurring in more than trace quantities; therefore, fluorine is a monoisotopic and a mononuclidic element.
The longest-lived radioisotope is with a half-life of 109.734 minutes, followed by with 64.37 seconds. These unstable isotopes participate in the CNO cycle within stars. All other fluorine isotopes have half-lives of less than 12 seconds, and most of those less than 1/2 second.
List of isotopes
|-id=Fluorine-13 | | style="text-align:right" | 9 | style="text-align:right" | 4
| style="text-align:center" | 2021 | | p ? | | 1/2+# | |-id=Fluorine-14 | | style="text-align:right" | 9 | style="text-align:right" | 5 | | style="text-align:center" | 2010 | [] | p ? | | 2− | |-id=Fluorine-15 | | style="text-align:right" | 9 | style="text-align:right" | 6 | | style="text-align:center" | 1978 | [] | p | | 1/2+ | |-id=Fluorine-16 | | style="text-align:right" | 9 | style="text-align:right" | 7 | | style="text-align:center" | 1964 | [] | p | | 0− | |-id=Fluorine-17 | Intermediate product of various CNO cycles in stellar nucleosynthesis as part of the process producing helium from hydrogen | style="text-align:right" | 9 | style="text-align:right" | 8 | | style="text-align:center" | 1934 | | β+ | | 5/2+
| Has medicinal uses | style="text-align:right" | 9 | style="text-align:right" | 9 | | style="text-align:center" | 1937 | | β+ | | 1+ | Trace |-id=Fluorine-18m | style="text-indent:1em" | | colspan="3" style="text-indent:2em" | | style="text-align:center" | 1959 | | IT | | 5+
| style="text-align:right" | 9 | style="text-align:right" | 10 | | style="text-align:center" | 1920 | colspan=3 align=center|Stable | 1/2+ | 1.0000
| style="text-align:right" | 9 | style="text-align:right" | 11 | | style="text-align:center" | 1935 | | β− | | 2+
| style="text-align:right" | 9 | style="text-align:right" | 12 | | style="text-align:center" | 1955 | | β− | | 5/2+ | |-id=Fluorine-22 | rowspan=2| | rowspan=2 style="text-align:right" | 9 | rowspan=2 style="text-align:right" | 13 | rowspan=2| | rowspan=2 style="text-align:center" | 1965 | rowspan=2| | β− (> ) | | rowspan=2|(4+) | rowspan=2| |- | β−n (< ) | |-id=Fluorine-23 | rowspan=2| | rowspan=2 style="text-align:right" | 9 | rowspan=2 style="text-align:right" | 14 | rowspan=2| | rowspan=2 style="text-align:center" | 1970 | rowspan=2| | β− (> ) | | rowspan=2|5/2+ | rowspan=2| |- | β−n (< ) | |-id=Fluorine-24 | rowspan=2| | rowspan=2 style="text-align:right" | 9 | rowspan=2 style="text-align:right" | 15 | rowspan=2| | rowspan=2 style="text-align:center" | 1970 | rowspan=2| | β− (> ) | | rowspan=2|3+ | rowspan=2| |- | β−n (< ) | |-id=Fluorine-25 | rowspan=3| | rowspan=3 style="text-align:right" | 9 | rowspan=3 style="text-align:right" | 16 | rowspan=3| | rowspan=3 style="text-align:center" | 1970 | rowspan=3| | β− () | | rowspan=3|(5/2+) | rowspan=3| |- | β−n ()
| β−2n ? | |-id=Fluorine-26 | rowspan=3| | rowspan=3 style="text-align:right" | 9 | rowspan=3 style="text-align:right" | 17 | rowspan=3| | rowspan=3 style="text-align:center" | 1979 | rowspan=3| | β− () | | rowspan=3|1+ | rowspan=3| |- | β−n ()
| β−2n ? | |-id=Fluorine-26m | rowspan=3 style="text-indent:1em" | | rowspan=3 colspan="3" style="text-indent:2em" | | rowspan=3 style="text-align:center" | 2013 | rowspan=3 | | IT () | | rowspan=3|(4+) | rowspan=3| |- | β−n ()
| β− ? | |-id=Fluorine-27 | rowspan=3| | rowspan=3 style="text-align:right" | 9 | rowspan=3 style="text-align:right" | 18 | rowspan=3| | rowspan=3 style="text-align:center" | 1981 | rowspan=3| | β−n () | | rowspan=3|5/2+# | rowspan=3| |- | β− ()
| β−2n ? | |-id=Fluorine-28 | | style="text-align:right" | 9 | style="text-align:right" | 19 | | style="text-align:center" | 2012 | | n | | (4−) | |-id=Fluorine-29 | rowspan=3| | rowspan=3 style="text-align:right" | 9 | rowspan=3 style="text-align:right" | 20 | rowspan=3| | rowspan=3 style="text-align:center" | 1989 | rowspan=3| | β−n () | | rowspan=3|(5/2+) | rowspan=3| |- | β− ()
| β−2n ? | |-id=Fluorine-30 | | style="text-align:right" | 9 | style="text-align:right" | 21
| style="text-align:center" | 2024 | | n
|-id=Fluorine-31 | rowspan=3| | rowspan=3 style="text-align:right" | 9 | rowspan=3 style="text-align:right" | 22 | rowspan=3|# | rowspan=3 style="text-align:center" | 1999 | rowspan=3|# [> ] | β− ? | | rowspan=3|5/2+# | rowspan=3| |- | β−n ?
| β−2n ?
Fluorine-18
Of the unstable nuclides of fluorine, has the longest half-life, . It decays to via β+ decay. For this reason is a commercially important source of positrons. Its major value is in the production of the radiopharmaceutical fludeoxyglucose, used in positron emission tomography in medicine.
Fluorine-18 is the second lightest unstable nuclide (after beryllium-8, with 4 protons and 4 neutrons) with equal numbers of protons and neutrons and lightest such with an odd atomic number, having 9 of each. (See also the parity discussion of nuclide stability.)
Fluorine-19 Fluorine-19 is the only stable isotope of fluorine. Its abundance is ; no other isotopes of fluorine exist in significant quantities. Its binding energy is . Fluorine-19 is NMR-active with a spin of 1/2+, so it is used in fluorine-19 NMR spectroscopy.
Isomers Only two nuclear isomers (long-lived excited nuclear states), fluorine-18m and fluorine-26m, have been characterized. The half-life of before it undergoes isomeric transition is . This is less than the decay half-life of any of the particle-bound fluorine radioisotope nuclear ground states. The half-life of is ; it decays mainly to its ground state of or (rarely, via beta-minus decay) to one of high excited states of with delayed neutron emission.
See also Daughter products other than fluorine Isotopes of neon Isotopes of oxygen
References
Sources