Fluoroacetic acid
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| Names | |
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Preferred IUPAC name
Fluoroacetic acid
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| Other names
2-Fluoroacetic acid
Monofluoroacetic acid Monofluoroacetate Fluoroethanoic acid Cymonic acid |
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| Identifiers | |
144-49-0 
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| 3D model (Jmol) | Interactive image |
| ChEBI | CHEBI:30775 |
| ChemSpider | 10205670 |
| ECHA InfoCard | 100.005.120 |
| UNII |
AP1JV9U41M
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| Properties | |
| C2H3FO2 | |
| Molar mass | 78.04 g·mol−1 |
| Appearance | White crystals |
| Density | 1.369 |
| Melting point | 35.2 °C (95.4 °F; 308.3 K) |
| Boiling point | 165 °C (329 °F; 438 K) |
| Soluble in water and ethanol | |
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Except where otherwise noted, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C [77 °F], 100 kPa).
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| Infobox references | |
Fluoroacetic acid is a chemical compound with formula CH2FCOOH. The sodium salt, sodium fluoroacetate, is used as a pesticide. It inhibits the aconitase step of the citric acid cycle.
Fluoroacetate occurs naturally in at least 40 plants in Australia, Brazil, and Africa. It was first identified in Dichapetalum cymosum, commonly known as gifblaar (Afrikaans) or poison leaf, by Marais in 1944. As early as 1904, colonists in Sierra Leone used extracts of Chailletia toxicaria, which also contains fluoroacetic acid or its salts, to poison rats. Several native Australian plant genera contain the toxin, including: Gastrolobium, Gompholobium, Oxylobium, Nemcia, and Acacia.
Gastrolobium is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. There are over 100 species in this genus, and all but two are native to the south west region of Western Australia, where they are known as "poison peas". Gastrolobium growing in south western Australia are unique in their ability to concentrate fluoroacetate from low-fluorine soils. Brush-tailed possums, bush rats, and western grey kangaroos native to this region are capable of safely eating plants containing fluoroacetate, but livestock and introduced species from elsewhere in Australia are highly susceptible to the poison, as are species introduced from outside Australia, such as the red fox. The fact that many Gastrolobium species also have high secondary toxicity to non-native carnivores is thought to have limited the ability of cats to establish populations in locations where the plants form a major part of the understorey vegetation.
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