Organofluorine compounds.

These compounds are the most used in the industry; they have a wide range of function and can serve as refrigerants, pharmaceuticals, agrichemicals, surfactants, ozone depletors, poisons, or pollutants.

Organochlorine compounds

Their wide structural variety and divergent chemical properties lead to a broad range of applications. Many derivatives are controversial because of the effects of these compounds on the environment and on human and animal health.

Organobromine compunds

Organobromine compounds are organic compounds that contain carbon bonded to bromine . The most pervasive is the naturally produced bromomethane . One prominent application is the use of polybrominated diphenyl ethers as fire-retardants . A variety of minor organobromine compounds are found in nature, but none are biosynthesized or required by mammals.

Organoiodine compounds

Organoiodine compounds are organic compounds that contain one or more carbon–iodine bonds. They occur widely in organic chemistry, but are relatively rare in nature. The thyroxine hormones are organoiodine compounds that are required for health and the reason for government-mandated iodization of salt. Few organoiodine compounds are important industrially, at least in terms of large scale production.

Chlorofluorocarbons

One of the most important negative effects of halogenated compounds is the one caused by the Chlorofluorocarbons in the ozone layer.

Chlorofluorocarbons   are an organic compounds that contains carbon , chlorine , and fluorine , produced as a volatile derivatives of methane and ethane. The manufacture of such compounds has been phased out by the Montreal Protocol because they contribute to ozone depletion . Since the late 1970s, the use of CFCs has been heavily regulated because of their destructive effects on the ozone layer.

Uses and Applications and Impact on health and the environment