Platinum hexafluoride 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 In science, a formula is a concise way of expressing information symbolically, as in a mathematical formula or a ''chemical formula''. The informal use of the term ''formula'' in science refers to the general construct of a relationship betwee ...

Pt F₆, and is one of seventeen known binary

hexafluoride A hexafluoride is a chemical compound with the general formula QXnF6, QXnF6m−, or QXnF6m+. Many molecules fit this formula. An important hexafluoride is hexafluorosilicic acid (H2SiF6), which is a byproduct of the mining of phosphate rock. In ...

s. It is a dark-red volatile solid that forms a red gas. The compound is a unique example of platinum in the +6 oxidation state. With only four d-electrons, it is

paramagnetic Paramagnetism is a form of magnetism whereby some materials are weakly attracted by an externally applied magnetic field, and form internal, induced magnetic fields in the direction of the applied magnetic field. In contrast with this behavior, d ...

with a triplet ground state. PtF₆ is a strong fluorinating agent and one of the strongest oxidants, capable of oxidising xenon and O₂. PtF₆ is

octahedral In geometry, an octahedron (plural: octahedra, octahedrons) is a polyhedron with eight faces. The term is most commonly used to refer to the regular octahedron, a Platonic solid composed of eight equilateral triangles, four of which meet at ea ...

in both the solid state and in the gaseous state. The Pt-F bond lengths are 185

picometer The picometre (international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: pm) or picometer (American spelling) is a unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), equal to , or one trillionth of ...

Synthesis

PtF₆ was first prepared by reaction of fluorine with platinum metal. This route remains the method of choice.Drews, T.; Supel, J.; Hagenbach, A.; Seppelt, K. "Solid State Molecular Structures of Transition Metal Hexafluorides" ''Inorganic Chemistry'' 2006, volume 45, pp 3782-3788. :Pt + 3 F₂ → PtF₆ PtF₆ can also be prepared by

disproportionation In chemistry, disproportionation, sometimes called dismutation, is a redox reaction in which one compound of intermediate oxidation state converts to two compounds, one of higher and one of lower oxidation states. More generally, the term can b ...

of the pentafluoride ( PtF₅), with the tetrafluoride ( PtF₄) as a byproduct. The required PtF₅ can be obtained by fluorinating PtCl₂: :2 PtCl₂ + 5 F₂ → 2 PtF₅ + 2 Cl₂ :2 PtF₅ → PtF₆ + PtF₄

Hexafluoroplatinates

Platinum hexafluoride can gain an electron to form the hexafluoroplatinate anion, . It is formed by reacting platinum hexafluoride with relatively uncationisable elements and compounds, for example 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 ...

to form "" (actually a mixture of , , and ), known as

xenon hexafluoroplatinate Xenon hexafluoroplatinate is the product of the reaction of platinum hexafluoride with xenon, in an experiment that proved the chemical reactivity of the noble gases. This experiment was performed by Neil Bartlett at the University of British Col ...

. The discovery of this reaction in 1962 proved that

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 chemi ...

es form chemical compounds. Previous to the experiment with xenon, had been shown to react with oxygen to form ₂sup>+ tF₆sup>−,

dioxygenyl hexafluoroplatinate Dioxygenyl hexafluoroplatinate is a compound with formula O2PtF6. It is a hexafluoroplatinate of the unusual dioxygenyl cation, O2+, and is the first known compound containing this cation. It can be produced by the reaction of dioxygen with platin ...

References

General reading

* Holleman, A. F.; Wiberg, E. "Inorganic Chemistry" Academic Press: San Diego, 2001. . {{fluorine compounds Fluorides,6 Hexafluorides Platinum group halides Fluorinating agents Octahedral compounds Gases with color

Synthesis

Hexafluoroplatinates

See also

References

General reading