Order and disorder in difluorides | |
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The fluorite structure | Beryllium fluoride glass |
Difluorides are chemical compounds with two fluorine atoms per molecule (or per formula unit).
Metal difluorides are all ionic. Despite being highly ionic, the alkaline earth metal difluorides generally have extremely high lattice stability and are thus insoluble in water. The exception is beryllium difluoride. In addition, many transition metal difluorides are water-soluble.
Calcium difluoride is a notable compound. In the form of the mineral fluorite it is the major source of commercial fluorine. It also has an eponymic crystal structure, which is an end member of the spectrum starting from bixbyite and progressing through pyrochlore.
Examples of the difluorides include:
The alkaline earth metals all exhibit the oxidation state +2, and form difluorides. The difluoride of radium is however not well established due to the element's high radioactivity.
Compounds of the form MF2:
The bifluorides contain the two fluorine atoms in a covalently bound HF2− polyatomic ion rather than as F− anions.
Hydroxide is a diatomic anion with chemical formula OH−. It consists of an oxygen and hydrogen atom held together by a single covalent bond, and carries a negative electric charge. It is an important but usually minor constituent of water. It functions as a base, a ligand, a nucleophile, and a catalyst. The hydroxide ion forms salts, some of which dissociate in aqueous solution, liberating solvated hydroxide ions. Sodium hydroxide is a multi-million-ton per annum commodity chemical. The corresponding electrically neutral compound HO• is the hydroxyl radical. The corresponding covalently bound group –OH of atoms is the hydroxy group. Both the hydroxide ion and hydroxy group are nucleophiles and can act as catalysts in organic chemistry.
The alkaline earth metals are six chemical elements in group 2 of the periodic table. They are beryllium (Be), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), strontium (Sr), barium (Ba), and radium (Ra). The elements have very similar properties: they are all shiny, silvery-white, somewhat reactive metals at standard temperature and pressure.
A period 2 element is one of the chemical elements in the second row of the periodic table of the chemical elements. The periodic table is laid out in rows to illustrate recurring (periodic) trends in the chemical behavior of the elements as their atomic number increases; a new row is started when chemical behavior begins to repeat, creating columns of elements with similar properties.
Calcium fluoride is the inorganic compound of the elements calcium and fluorine with the formula CaF2. It is a white solid that is practically insoluble in water. It occurs as the mineral fluorite (also called fluorspar), which is often deeply coloured owing to impurities.
In chemistry, the perbromate ion is the anion having the chemical formula BrO−
4. It is an oxyanion of bromine, the conjugate base of perbromic acid, in which bromine has the oxidation state +7. Unlike its chlorine and iodine analogs, it is difficult to synthesize. It has tetrahedral molecular geometry.
Dioxygen difluoride is a compound of fluorine and oxygen with the molecular formula O2F2. It can exist as an orange-colored solid which melts into a red liquid at −163 °C (110 K). It is an extremely strong oxidant and decomposes into oxygen and fluorine even at −160 °C (113 K) at a rate of 4% per day — its lifetime at room temperature is thus extremely short. Dioxygen difluoride reacts vigorously with nearly every chemical it encounters (including ordinary ice) leading to its onomatopoeic nickname FOOF (a play on its chemical structure and its explosive tendencies).
Beryllium fluoride is the inorganic compound with the formula BeF2. This white solid is the principal precursor for the manufacture of beryllium metal. Its structure resembles that of quartz, but BeF2 is highly soluble in water.
Silver(II) fluoride is a chemical compound with the formula AgF2. It is a rare example of a silver(II) compound - silver usually exists in its +1 oxidation state. It is used as a fluorinating agent.
Scandium(III) fluoride, ScF3, is an ionic compound. This salt is slightly soluble in water but dissolves in the presence of excess fluoride to form the ScF63− anion.
Ammonium bifluoride is the inorganic compound with the formula [NH4][HF2] or [NH4]F·HF. It is produced from ammonia and hydrogen fluoride. This colourless salt is a glass-etchant and an intermediate in a once-contemplated route to hydrofluoric acid.
Xenon difluoride is a powerful fluorinating agent with the chemical formula XeF
2, and one of the most stable xenon compounds. Like most covalent inorganic fluorides it is moisture-sensitive. It decomposes on contact with water vapor, but is otherwise stable in storage. Xenon difluoride is a dense, colourless crystalline solid.
The dioxygenyl(or dioxyl) ion, O+
2, is a rarely-encountered oxycation in which both oxygen atoms have a formal oxidation state of +1/2. It is formally derived from oxygen by the removal of an electron:
Fluorine is a chemical element; it has symbol F and atomic number 9. It is the lightest halogen and exists at standard conditions as a highly toxic, pale yellow diatomic gas. As the most electronegative reactive element, it is extremely reactive, as it reacts with all other elements except for the light inert gases.
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 the nuclear industry, uranium hexafluoride (UF6) is an important intermediate in the purification of this element.
Tin(IV) fluoride is a chemical compound of tin and fluorine with the chemical formula SnF4 and is a white solid with a melting point above 700 °C.
Palladium(II) fluoride, also known as palladium difluoride, is the chemical compound of palladium and fluorine with the formula PdF2.
Fluorine forms a great variety of chemical compounds, within which it always adopts an oxidation state of −1. With other atoms, fluorine forms either polar covalent bonds or ionic bonds. Most frequently, covalent bonds involving fluorine atoms are single bonds, although at least two examples of a higher order bond exist. Fluoride may act as a bridging ligand between two metals in some complex molecules. Molecules containing fluorine may also exhibit hydrogen bonding. Fluorine's chemistry includes inorganic compounds formed with hydrogen, metals, nonmetals, and even noble gases; as well as a diverse set of organic compounds. For many elements the highest known oxidation state can be achieved in a fluoride. For some elements this is achieved exclusively in a fluoride, for others exclusively in an oxide; and for still others the highest oxidation states of oxides and fluorides are always equal.
Samarium(II) fluoride is one of fluorides of samarium with a chemical formula SmF2. The compound crystalizes in the fluorite structure, and is significantly nonstoichiometric. Along with europium(II) fluoride and ytterbium(II) fluoride, it is one of three known rare earth difluorides, the rest are unstable.
Ytterbium compounds are chemical compounds that contain the element ytterbium (Yb). The chemical behavior of ytterbium is similar to that of the rest of the lanthanides. Most ytterbium compounds are found in the +3 oxidation state, and its salts in this oxidation state are nearly colorless. Like europium, samarium, and thulium, the trihalides of ytterbium can be reduced to the dihalides by hydrogen, zinc dust, or by the addition of metallic ytterbium. The +2 oxidation state occurs only in solid compounds and reacts in some ways similarly to the alkaline earth metal compounds; for example, ytterbium(II) oxide (YbO) shows the same structure as calcium oxide (CaO).
Radon compounds are chemical compounds formed by the element radon (Rn). Radon is a noble gas, i.e. a zero-valence element, and is chemically not very reactive. The 3.8-day half-life of radon-222 makes it useful in physical sciences as a natural tracer. Because radon is a gas under normal circumstances, and its decay-chain parents are not, it can readily be extracted from them for research.