Group 18 Elements | Chemical Properties#

Introduction#

The inertness of noble gases is attributed to the following reasons:

• The noble gases have completely filled electronic configuration in their valence shell.
• They have high ionization enthalpy and more positive electron gain enthalpy.

In 1962, Neil Bartlett observed the reaction of noble gases. First he prepared a red compound which is formulated as O₂⁺PtF₆^-. He, then realized that the first ionization enthalpy of molecular oxygen was almost identical to that of Xenon. He was successful in preparing another compound Xe⁺PtF₆^- by mixing PtF₆ and Xenon. After this discovery, a number of xenon compounds mainly with most electronegative elements like fluorine and oxygen have been synthesized.

1. Xenon-fluorine Compounds#

• Xenon forms three binary fluorides, XeF₂, XeF₄ and XeF₆ by the direct reaction of elements under appropriate experimental conditions.

• XeF₆ can also be prepared by the interaction of XeF₄ and O₂F₂ at 143 K.

• Xenon-fluorine compounds are powerful fluorinating agents. They are readily hydrolyzed even by traces of water.

• Xenon fluorides react with fluoride ion acceptors to form cationic species and fluoride ion donors to form fluoroanions.

Structures of Xenon-fluorine Compounds:#

2. Xenon-Oxygen Compounds#

• Hydrolysis of XeF₄ and XeF₆ with water gives XeO₃.

• Partial hydrolysis of XeF₆ gives oxyfluorides, XeOF₄ and XeO₂F₂.

Questions#