Alternative fluorinating agents for the production of fluorinated quartz glass

A process for producing a fluorinated quartz glass, comprising:

• (a) providing a SiO2 soot body;
• (b) reacting of the SiO2 soot body with a fluorinating agent having a boiling point greater than or equal to −10° C. to obtain a fluorinated SiO2 soot body;
• (c) vitrifying the fluorinated SiO2 soot body
• wherein the fluorination provided in (b) is carried out with a fluorinating agent selected from a group consisting of:
• i. oxygen-containing fluorinating agents;
• ii. nitrile-containing fluorinating agents;
• iii. mixtures of oxygen-containing and nitrile-containing fluorinating agents;
• and
• characterized in that the oxygen-containing fluorinating agents are selected from a group consisting of:
• i. Perfluoroketones of the general formula (I)
• RF1—CO—RF2 (I),
• wherein RF1 is selected from a group consisting of perfluorinated carbon groups having 1 to 7 carbon atoms and fluorine;
• and RF2 is selected from a group consisting of perfluorinated carbon groups having 1 to 7 carbon atoms;
• ii. Perfluoroethers of general formula (II)
• RF1—C(X1)(X2)O—RF2 (II),
• wherein RF1 is selected from the group consisting of perfluorinated carbon groups having 1 to 7 carbon atoms and fluorine;
• RF2 is selected from the group consisting of perfluorinated carbon groups having 1 to 7 carbon atoms;
• and X1 and X2 are fluorine or CF3;
• iii. Hydrofluoroethers of the general formula (III)
• RF1—C(X1)(X2)O—R2 (III),
• wherein RF1 is selected from the group consisting of perfluorinated carbon groups having 1 to 7 carbon atoms and fluorine, R2 is a non-fluorinated hydrocarbon group having 1 to 3 carbon atoms;
• and X1 and X2 are fluorine or CF3.