Chloryl fluoride is the
chemical compound
A chemical compound is a chemical substance composed of many identical molecules (or molecular entities) containing atoms from more than one chemical element held together by chemical bonds. A molecule consisting of atoms of only one element ...
with the formula ClO
2F. It is commonly encountered as side-product in reactions of
chlorine fluorides with oxygen sources. It is the
acyl fluoride
In organic chemistry, an acyl halide (also known as an acid halide) is a chemical compound derived from an oxoacid by replacing a hydroxyl group () with a halide group (, where X is a halogen).
If the acid is a carboxylic acid (), the compound c ...
of
chloric acid.
Preparation
ClO
2F was first reported by Schmitz and Schumacher in 1942, who prepared it by the fluorination of
ClO2. The compound is more conveniently prepared by treatment of sodium chlorate and chlorine trifluoride
and purified by vacuum fractionation, i.e. selectively condensing this species separately from other products. This species is a gas boiling at −6 °C:
:6 NaClO
3 + 4 ClF
3 → 6 ClO
2F + 2 Cl
2 + 3 O
2 + 6 NaF
Structure
In contrast to
O2F2, ClO
2F is a pyramidal molecule. This structure is predicted by
VSEPR
Valence shell electron pair repulsion (VSEPR) theory ( , ), is a model used in chemistry to predict the geometry of individual molecules from the number of electron pairs surrounding their central atoms. It is also named the Gillespie-Nyholm the ...
. The differing structures reflects the greater tendency of chlorine to exist in positive oxidation states with oxygen and fluorine ligands. The related Cl-O-F compound
perchloryl fluoride, ClO
3F, is tetrahedral.
The related bromine compound ''bromyl fluoride'' (BrO
2F) adopts the same structure as ClO
2F, whereas ''iodyl fluoride'' (IO
2F) forms a polymeric substance under standard conditions.
References
External links
WebBook page for ClO2F
{{fluorine compounds
Chloryl compounds
Oxyfluorides
Fluorides
Nonmetal halides
Gases
Substances discovered in the 1940s