Iridium hexafluoride, also iridium(VI) fluoride, (IrF6) is a compound of iridium and fluorine and one of the seventeen known binary hexafluorides. It is one of only a few compounds with iridium in the oxidation state +6.
Synthesis
Iridium hexafluoride is made by a direct reaction of iridium metal in an excess of elemental fluorine gas at 300 °C. However, it is thermally unstable and must be frozen out of the gaseous reaction mixture to avoid dissociation.
Ir + 3 F 2 → IrF 6
Description
Iridium hexafluoride is a yellow crystalline solid that melts at 44 °C and boils at 53.6 °C.[1] The solid structure measured at −140 °C is orthorhombic space group Pnma. Lattice parameters are a = 9.411 Å, b = 8.547 Å, and c = 4.952 Å. There are four formula units (in this case, discrete molecules) per unit cell, giving a density of 5.11 g·cm−3.[2]
^Lin, Jianyan; Zhao, Ziyuan; Liu, Chunyu; Zhang, Jing; Du, Xin; Yang, Guochun; Ma, Yanming (2019-03-13). "IrF8 Molecular Crystal under High Pressure". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 141 (13). American Chemical Society (ACS): 5409–5414. doi:10.1021/jacs.9b00069. ISSN0002-7863. PMID30864432. S2CID76664353.