Paul Simon’s “50 ways to leave your lover” was an hysterically clever and popular song
“Just slip out the back, Jack
make a new plan, Stan
Don’t need to be coy, Roy
just listen to me
Hop on the bus, Gus
don’t need to discuss much
Just drop off the key, Lee
and get yourself free,…”

Of these lyrics I am reminded, this morning, with 50 ways to name the same compound, PFOB.  Yep really there are almost 50 in this list according to PubChem (similarly for ChemSpider) for perfluorooctylbromide, which back in the 1975s we nicknamed PFOB (yep PFOB is still on the list). There is something wrong with the system when there are 50 ways to name the same thing (apparently this is the same compound, though I seriously doubt it. What we called PFOB was the neat liquid, others may have add things??, but consider that we don’t even have 50 names for LOVE, why should there be 50 names for this simple perfluorinated molecule. Such naming schemes more than doubles the amount of work necessary to figure out how to read research papers that use PFOB.

It was reported several places in the literature (particularly as LiquiVent (Allied Pharmaceutical Corporation San Diego California)) and it seems like they had a big hand in making up other names for it as well.

Compound names used for PFOB (ok there are only 49, not 50)
CAS No. 423-55-2 (Chemical Abstracts Service)
1-Brom-1,1,2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5,6,6,7,7,8,8,8-heptadecafluoroctan
1-Bromo-1,1,2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5,6,6,7,7,8,8,8-heptadecafluorooctane
1-Bromo-1,1,2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5,6,6,7,7,8,8,8-heptadécafluorooctane
1-Bromoheptadecafluorooctane
1-Bromoperfluorooctane
bromoperfluorooctane
bromure de n-perfluorooctyle
Foralkyl Br 8
Heptadecafluoro-n-octyl Bromide
Heptadecafluorooctyl bromide
n-Perfluorooctyl Bromide
Octane, 1-bromo-1,1,2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5,6,6,7,7,8,8,8-heptadecafluoro-
Perflubron
perfluoro(octyl) bromide
Perfluoroctyl bromide
perfluoroctylbromide
perfluorooctyl bromide
perfluorooctylbromide
1-bromo-1,1,2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5,6,6,7,7,8,8,8-heptadecafluoro-octane
1-Bromoperfluorooctane,
1-Bromoperfluorooctane; 1-Bromo-1,1,2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5,6,6,7,7,8,8,8-heptadecafluorooctane
2016022
207-028-4
bromure de n-perfluorooctyle
CHEBI:38803
D05439
EINECS 207-028-4
IMAGENT
Imagent (TN)
Imagent BP
Imagent GI
LiquiVent
Long’s compound
NCGC00166217-01
Octane, 1-bromoheptadecafluoro-
Oxygent
oxygent ca
Oxygent HT
Perflubron (USP)
perflubron emulsion
Perfluoro-n-Octyl Bromide
perfluoro-octylbromide
PFOB
Q1D0Q7R4D9
QA-3920
RG8700000
UNII:Q1D0Q7R4D9
UNII-Q1D0Q7R4D9