Difluorocarbene
![Fig. 1: The electron distribution in a singlet carbene. The empty p-orbital perpendicular to the plane of the other bonds is not shownFig. 2: Molecular orbitals for three contributing p-orbitals](/Images/godic/202501/09/Carbene_singlet0420.png")
![](/Images/godic/202501/09/AllylMO0420.png")
Difluorocarbene is the chemical compound with formula CF2. It has a short half-life, 0.5 and 20 ms, in solution and in the gas phase, respectively. Although highly reactive, difluorocarbene is an intermediate in the production of tetrafluoroethylene, which is produced on an industrial scale as the precursor to Teflon (PTFE).