R-12 freeon... I read in one thread that it could be substatued for Anhydrouse amonia.. is this true or a load of BS?
It depends.
If you want to use it as a refrigerant, then R12 is pretty good, though I'm not sure it's better than ammonia.... so yes, it could be substituted with this application in mind.
As a precursor to an amine- no. Ie you cannot substitute ammonia with R12 in a chemical reaction which is intended to produce an amine using ammonia as the nitrogen source.
Chlorinated and fluorinated hydrocarbons are fairly unreactive, which is why they find use in refrigeration, and solvents.... and also why they survive for ages, unchanged until they end up all the way at the top of the atmosphere, where they meet hard radiation and ozone and monatomic oxygen and there combine with and deplete - no, can I say "fuck up"? (deplete sounds too ... depleted) the ozone layer.