Silver subfluoride is the

inorganic compound An inorganic compound is typically a chemical compound that lacks carbon–hydrogen bonds⁠that is, a compound that is not an organic compound. The study of inorganic compounds is a subfield of chemistry known as ''inorganic chemistry''. Inorgan ...

with the formula Ag₂F. This is an unusual example of a compound where the

oxidation state In chemistry, the oxidation state, or oxidation number, is the hypothetical Electrical charge, charge of an atom if all of its Chemical bond, bonds to other atoms are fully Ionic bond, ionic. It describes the degree of oxidation (loss of electrons ...

of silver is fractional. The compound is produced by the reaction of silver and

silver(I) fluoride Silver(I) fluoride is the inorganic compound with the formula AgF. It is one of the three main fluorides of silver, the others being silver subfluoride and silver(II) fluoride. AgF has relatively few niche applications; it has been employed as ...

:Lee Poyer, Maurice Fielder, Hugh Harrison, Burl E. Bryant "Disilver Fluoride: (Silver “Subfluoride”)" Inorganic Syntheses, 1957, Volume 5, 92–94. :Ag + AgF → Ag₂F It forms small crystals with a bronze reflex and is a good conductor of

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

. On contact with water almost instant

hydrolysis Hydrolysis (; ) is any chemical reaction in which a molecule of water breaks one or more chemical bonds. The term is used broadly for substitution reaction, substitution, elimination reaction, elimination, and solvation reactions in which water ...

occurs with the precipitation of

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

(Ag) powder.

Crystal structure

Ag₂F adopts the anti-CdI₂

crystal structure In crystallography, crystal structure is a description of ordered arrangement of atoms, ions, or molecules in a crystalline material. Ordered structures occur from intrinsic nature of constituent particles to form symmetric patterns that repeat ...

, i.e. the same structure as cadmium iodide, CdI₂, but with "Ag^½+" centres in the I⁻ positions and F⁻ in the Cd²⁺ positions. The shortest distance between silver atoms is 299.6 pm (compared to 289 pm in the metal).Egon Wiberg, Arnold Frederick Holleman (2001) ''Inorganic Chemistry'', Elsevier

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Silver Subfluoride Metal halides Fluorides Silver compounds