The noble gases are the members of group 18 of the periodic table: helium (He), neon (Ne), argon (Ar), krypton (Kr), xenon (Xe), radon (Rn) and, in some cases, oganesson (Og). Under standard conditions, the first six of these elements are odorless, colorless, monatomic gases with very low chemical reactivity and cryogenic boiling points. The properties of the seventh, unstable, element, Og, are uncertain.
Xenon is a chemical element; it has 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 formation of xenon hexafluoroplatinate, the first noble gas compound to be synthesized.
In chemistry, noble gas compounds are chemical compounds that include an element from the noble gases, group 18 of the periodic table. Although the noble gases are generally unreactive elements, many such compounds have been observed, particularly involving the element xenon.
In chemistry, perxenates are salts of the yellow xenon-containing anion XeO4−
6. This anion has octahedral molecular geometry, as determined by Raman spectroscopy, having O–Xe–O bond angles varying between 87° and 93°. The Xe–O bond length was determined by X-ray crystallography to be 1.875 Å.
Xenon tetroxide is a chemical compound of xenon and oxygen with molecular formula XeO4, remarkable for being a relatively stable compound of a noble gas. It is a yellow crystalline solid that is stable below −35.9 °C; above that temperature it is very prone to exploding and decomposing into elemental xenon and oxygen (O2).
Xenon tetrafluoride is a chemical compound with chemical formula XeF
4. It was the first discovered binary compound of a noble gas. It is produced by the chemical reaction of xenon with fluorine:
Xenon hexafluoride is a noble gas compound with the formula XeF6. It is one of the three binary fluorides of xenon that have been studied experimentally, the other two being XeF2 and XeF4. All known are exergonic and stable at normal temperatures. XeF6 is the strongest fluorinating agent of the series. It is a colorless solid that readily sublimes into intensely yellow vapors.
Platinum hexafluoride is the chemical compound with the formula PtF6, and is one of seventeen known binary hexafluorides. 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 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 both the solid state and in the gaseous state. The Pt-F bond lengths are 185 picometers.
Xenon trioxide is an unstable compound of xenon in its +6 oxidation state. It is a very powerful oxidizing agent, and liberates oxygen from water slowly, accelerated by exposure to sunlight. It is dangerously explosive upon contact with organic materials. When it detonates, it releases xenon and oxygen gas.
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.
Xenon compounds are compounds containing the element xenon (Xe). After Neil Bartlett's discovery in 1962 that xenon can form chemical compounds, a large number of xenon compounds have been discovered and described. Almost all known xenon compounds contain the electronegative atoms fluorine or oxygen. The chemistry of xenon in each oxidation state is analogous to that of the neighboring element iodine in the immediately lower oxidation state.
Xenic acid is a proposed noble gas compound with the chemical formula H2XeO4 or XeO2(OH)2. It has not been isolated, and the published characterization data are ambiguous.
Xenon oxytetrafluoride is an inorganic chemical compound. It is an unstable colorless liquid with a melting point of −46.2 °C that can be synthesized by partial hydrolysis of XeF
6, or the reaction of XeF
6 with silica or NaNO
3:
Krypton difluoride, KrF2 is a chemical compound of krypton and fluorine. It was the first compound of krypton discovered. It is a volatile, colourless solid at room temperature. The structure of the KrF2 molecule is linear, with Kr−F distances of 188.9 pm. It reacts with strong Lewis acids to form salts of the KrF+ and Kr
2F+
3 cations.
The dioxygenyl 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:
Tetramethylammonium pentafluoroxenate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula [N(CH3)4]+[XeF5]−. This salt consists of tetramethylammonium cations [N(CH3)4]+ and pentafluoroxenate(IV) anions [XeF5]−. The [XeF5]− ion was the first example of a pentagonal planar molecular geometry AX5E2 species. It was prepared by the reaction of [N(CH3)4]F with xenon tetrafluoride, [N(CH3)4]F being chosen because it can be prepared in anhydrous form and is readily soluble in organic solvents. The anion is planar, with the fluorine atoms in a slightly distorted pentagonal coordination. Other salts have been prepared with sodium, caesium and rubidium, and vibrational spectra show that these contain the same planar ion. The isolated anion has the point group of D5h.
The tetrafluoroammonium cation is a positively charged polyatomic ion with chemical formula NF+
4. It is equivalent to the ammonium ion where the hydrogen atoms surrounding the central nitrogen atom have been replaced by fluorine. Tetrafluoroammonium ion is isoelectronic with tetrafluoromethane CF
4, trifluoramine oxide ONF
3, tetrafluoroborate BF−
4 anion and the tetrafluoroberyllate BeF2−
4 anion.
Nitrosonium octafluoroxenate(VI) is a chemical compound of xenon with nitrogen, oxygen, and fluorine, having formula (NO)
2XeF
8. It is an ionic compound containing well-separated nitrosonium cations (NO+) and octafluoroxenate(VI) anions (XeF2−
8). The molecular geometry of the octafluoroxenate(VI) ion is square antiprismatic, having Xe–F bond lengths of 1.971 Å, 1.946 Å, 1.958 Å, 2.052 Å, and 2.099 Å.
Xenon monochloride (XeCl) is an exciplex which is used in excimer lasers and excimer lamps emitting near ultraviolet light at 308 nm. It is most commonly used in medicine. Xenon monochloride was first synthesized in the 1960s. Its kinetic scheme is very complex and its state changes occur on a nanosecond timescale. In the gaseous state, at least two kinds of xenon monochloride are known: XeCl and Xe
2Cl, whereas complex aggregates form in the solid state in noble gas matrices. The excited state of xenon resembles halogens and it reacts with them to form excited molecular compounds.
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.
