Xenon hexafluoroplatinate is the product of the reaction of platinum hexafluoride with

xenon Xenon is a chemical element with the symbol Xe and atomic number 54. It is a dense, colorless, odorless noble gas found in Earth's atmosphere in trace amounts. Although generally unreactive, it can undergo a few chemical reactions such as the ...

, in an experiment that proved the chemical reactivity of the

noble gas The noble gases (historically also the inert gases; sometimes referred to as aerogens) make up a class of chemical elements with similar properties; under standard conditions, they are all odorless, colorless, monatomic gases with very low che ...

es. This experiment was performed by Neil Bartlett at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

, who formulated the product as "Xe⁺ tF₆sup>−", although subsequent work suggests that Bartlett's product was probably a salt mixture and did not in fact contain this specific salt.

Preparation

"Xenon hexafluoroplatinate" is prepared from xenon and platinum hexafluoride (PtF₆) as gaseous solutions in SF₆. The reactants are combined at 77 K and slowly warmed to allow for a controlled reaction.

Structure

The material described originally as "xenon hexafluoroplatinate" is probably not Xe⁺ tF₆sup>−. The main problem with this formulation is "Xe⁺", which would be a radical and would dimerize or abstract a fluorine atom to give XeF⁺. Thus, Bartlett discovered that Xe undergoes chemical reactions, but the nature and purity of his initial mustard yellow product remains uncertain. Further work indicates that Bartlett's product probably contained eFsup>+ tF₅sup>−, eFsup>+ t₂F₁₁sup>−, and e₂F₃sup>+ tF₆sup>−. The title "compound" is a salt, consisting of an octahedral

anionic An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by conve ...

fluoride Fluoride (). According to this source, is a possible pronunciation in British English. is an inorganic, monatomic anion of fluorine, with the chemical formula (also written ), whose salts are typically white or colorless. Fluoride salts ...

complex of

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Pla ...

and various xenon cations. It has been proposed that the platinum fluoride forms a negatively charged

polymer A polymer (; Greek ''poly-'', "many" + '' -mer'', "part") is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic and ...

ic network with xenon or xenon fluoride

cation An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by conve ...

s held in its interstices. A preparation of "XePtF₆" in HF solution results in a solid which has been characterized as a polymeric network associated with XeF⁺. This result is evidence for such a polymeric structure of xenon hexafluoroplatinate.

History

In 1962, Neil Bartlett discovered that a mixture of platinum hexafluoride gas and oxygen formed a red solid. The red solid turned out to be dioxygenyl hexafluoroplatinate, Bartlett noticed that the ionization energy for O₂ (1175 kJ mol⁻¹) was very close to the ionization energy for Xe (1170 kJ mol⁻¹). He then asked his colleagues to give him some xenon "so that he could try out some reactions", whereupon he established that xenon indeed reacts with PtF₆. Although, as discussed above, the product was probably a mixture of several compounds, Bartlett's work was the first proof that compounds could be prepared from a

. Since Bartlett's observation, many well-defined compounds of xenon have been reported including XeF₂, XeF₄, and XeF₆.

References

{{Platinum compounds Xenon compounds Fluorides Nonmetal halides Coordination complexes Platinum compounds Fluorometallates

Preparation

Structure

History

See also

References