[4] Pure chromyl fluoride was first isolated in 1952 as reported by Alfred Engelbrecht and Aristid von Grosse.

[5] It was first observed as red vapor in the early 19th century upon heating a mixture of fluorspar (CaF2), chromates, and sulfuric acid.

A later attempt saw von Wartenberg prepare impure CrO2F2 by treating chromyl chloride with elemental fluorine.

Engelbrecht and von Grosse's synthesis of CrO2F2, and most successive syntheses, involve treating chromium trioxide with a fluorinating agent:[5] The reaction is reversible, as water will readily hydrolyze CrO2F2 back to CrO3.

[7] Chromyl fluoride is a strong oxidizing agent capable of converting hydrocarbons to ketones and carboxylic acids.