Related compounds Molar mass 53.9962 g/mol Density 1.9 g/cm³ | Formula OF2 Boiling point -145 °C Pubchem 24547 | |
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Appearance colorless gas, pale yellow liquid when condensed | ||
Oxygen difluoride lewis dot structure how to draw the lewis structure for oxygen difluoride
Oxygen difluoride is the chemical compound with the formula OF2. As predicted by VSEPR theory, the molecule adopts a "bent" molecular geometry similar to that of water, but it has very different properties, being a strong oxidizer.
Contents
- Oxygen difluoride lewis dot structure how to draw the lewis structure for oxygen difluoride
- Oxygen difluoride of2 lewis dot structure
- Preparation
- Reactions
- Safety
- Popular culture
- References
Oxygen difluoride of2 lewis dot structure
Preparation
Oxygen difluoride was first reported in 1929; it was obtained by the electrolysis of molten potassium fluoride and hydrofluoric acid containing small quantities of water. The modern preparation entails the reaction of fluorine with a dilute aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide, with sodium fluoride as a side-product:
2 F2 + 2 NaOH → OF2 + 2 NaF + H2OReactions
Its powerful oxidizing properties are suggested by the oxidation number of +2 for the oxygen atom instead of its normal -2. Above 200 °C, OF2 decomposes to oxygen and fluorine via a radical mechanism.
OF2 reacts with many metals to yield oxides and fluorides. Nonmetals also react: phosphorus reacts with OF2 to form PF5 and POF3; sulfur gives SO2 and SF4; and unusually for a noble gas, xenon reacts, at elevated temperatures, yielding XeF4 and xenon oxyfluorides.
Oxygen difluoride reacts very slowly with water to form hydrofluoric acid:
OF2 (aq) + H2O (l) → 2 HF (aq) + O2 (g)Oxygen difluoride oxidizes sulfur dioxide to sulfur trioxide:
OF2 + SO2 → SO3 + F2However, in the presence of UV radiation the products are sulfuryl fluoride, SO
2F
2, and pyrosulfuryl fluoride, S
2O
5F
2:
2O
5F
2
Safety
OF2 is a strongly oxidizing gas.
Popular culture
In Robert L. Forward's science fiction novel Camelot 30K, oxygen difluoride was used as a biochemical solvent by fictional life forms living in the solar system's Kuiper belt.