Chlorine monofluoride is a volatile

interhalogen In chemistry, an interhalogen compound is a molecule which contains two or more different halogen atoms ( fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, or astatine) and no atoms of elements from any other group. Most interhalogen compounds known are b ...

compound with the

chemical formula In chemistry, a chemical formula is a way of presenting information about the chemical proportions of atoms that constitute a particular chemical compound or molecule, using chemical element symbols, numbers, and sometimes also other symbols, ...

ClF. It is a colourless gas at room temperature and is stable even at high temperatures. When cooled to −100 °C, ClF condenses as a pale yellow liquid. Many of its properties are intermediate between its parent

halogen The halogens () are a group in the periodic table consisting of five or six chemically related elements: fluorine (F), chlorine (Cl), bromine (Br), iodine (I), astatine (At), and tennessine (Ts). In the modern IUPAC nomenclature, this group is ...

s, Cl₂ and F₂.

Reactivity

Chlorine monofluoride is a versatile

fluorinating agent In chemistry, halogenation is a chemical reaction that entails the introduction of one or more halogens into a compound. Halide-containing compounds are pervasive, making this type of transformation important, e.g. in the production of polymers, ...

, converting metals and non-metals to their fluorides and releasing Cl₂ in the process. For example, it converts

tungsten Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isolat ...

tungsten hexafluoride Tungsten(VI) fluoride, also known as tungsten hexafluoride, is an inorganic compound with the formula W F6. It is a toxic, corrosive, colorless gas, with a density of about (roughly 11 times heavier than air). It is one of the densest known gase ...

and

selenium Selenium is a chemical element with the symbol Se and atomic number 34. It is a nonmetal (more rarely considered a metalloid) with properties that are intermediate between the elements above and below in the periodic table, sulfur and tellurium, ...

selenium tetrafluoride Selenium tetrafluoride ( Se F4) is an inorganic compound. It is a colourless liquid that reacts readily with water. It can be used as a fluorinating reagent in organic syntheses (fluorination of alcohols, carboxylic acids or carbonyl compounds) an ...

: :W + 6 ClF → WF₆ + 3 Cl₂ :Se + 4 ClF → SeF₄ + 2 Cl₂ FCl can also chlorofluorinate compounds, either by addition across a

multiple bond In chemistry, bond order, as introduced by Linus Pauling, is defined as the difference between the number of bonds and anti-bonds. The bond order itself is the number of electron pairs (covalent bonds) between two atoms. For example, in diat ...

or via

oxidation Redox (reduction–oxidation, , ) is a type of chemical reaction in which the oxidation states of substrate change. Oxidation is the loss of electrons or an increase in the oxidation state, while reduction is the gain of electrons or a d ...

. For example, it adds fluorine and chlorine to the carbon of

carbon monoxide Carbon monoxide (chemical formula CO) is a colorless, poisonous, odorless, tasteless, flammable gas that is slightly less dense than air. Carbon monoxide consists of one carbon atom and one oxygen atom connected by a triple bond. It is the simple ...

, yielding carbonyl chloride fluoride: :CO + ClF → Carbonyl-chlorofluoride-2D

References

External links

National Pollutant Inventory - Fluoride and compounds fact sheetWebBook page for FCl
{{Fluorine compounds Fluorides Fluorinating agents Inorganic chlorine compounds Interhalogen compounds Oxidizing agents

Reactivity

See also

References

External links