Research of blood substitute formulations and their base materials is of high scientific interest. Especially fluorinated microemulsions based on perfluorocarbons, with their interesting chemical properties, offer opportunities for applications in biomedicine and physical chemistry. In this work, carbon K-edge absorption spectra of liquid perfluoroalkanes and their parent hydrocarbons are presented and compared. Based on soft X-ray absorption, a comprehensive picture of the electronic structure is provided with the aid of time dependent density functional theory. We have observed that conformational geometries mainly influence the chemical and electronic interactions in the presented liquid materials, leading to a direct association of conformational geometries to the dissolving capacity of the presented perfluorocarbons with other solvents like water and possibly gases like oxygen.
