Halogen oxide fluorides

The ternary halogen oxides are mainly compounds in which a heavier X atom (Cl, Br, I) is bonded to both O and F. These compounds are called halogen oxide fluorides. The structures of the ternary halogen oxides are summarized in Fig. 17.4.1. 

These compounds range from the thermally unstable FCIO to the rather chemically inert perchloryl fluoride FCIO3. The structure and properties of this family of compounds resemble those of the halogen fluorides. Therefore, they have to be handled with the same care as elemental fluorine and its chemically reactive fluorides. The halogen oxide fluorides can be prepared by fluorination of halogen oxides with elemental fluorine or with halogen fluoride. 

Table 8 Physical properties of the halogen oxide fluorides...

Chlorine Oxide Fluoride. The only member of the halogen oxide fluoride class is chlorine oxide fluoride (6). It forms a solid that melts to a red liquid at —70 °C. In the gaseous state, it is thermally unstable and decomposes to give FCIO2 and CIF. It can be made by the hydrolysis of CIF3 with substoichiometric amounts of H2O in a flow reactor. It is also produced by photolysis of a mixture of CIF and O3 in Ar at 4 15K. 

---