Xenon hexafluoroplatinate

Following Bartlett s discovery of xenon hexafluoroplatinate(VI), xenon and fluorine were found to combine to give several volatile, essentially covalent fluorides, and at least one fluoride of krypton has been obtained. From the xenon fluorides, compounds containing xenon-oxygen bonds have been made much of the known chemistry of xenon is set out in Figure 12.1. 

Accordingly, he mixed xenon and PtFe and obtained the orange-yellow solid of xenon hexafluoroplatinate—the first noble gas compound. (Although in fact, the compound turned out not to have the structure that Bartlett predicted because at room temperature the XePtFe reacts with another molecule of PtFe to give a product containing [XeF]"[PtFe]- and [PtFslF)... 

Bartlett N (1962) Xenon hexafluoroplatinate Xe [PtF6]. Proc Chem Soc London 218 Bartlett N (1963) New compounds of noble gases the fluorides of xenon and radon. Amer Scientist 51 114-118... 

Xenon and platinum hexafluoride interact at room temperature to form a red solid of composition Xe(PtF6)a where x lies between 1 and 2. That the platinum is present in the -f-S oxidation state, no matter what the composition of the adduct, is indicated by the preparation of alkali metal hexafluoroplatinates(V) from material of composition XePtFe and Xe(PtF6)2. Material containing more than one mole of platinum hexafluoride per gram atom of xenon combines with more xenon at 130° to approach the composition XePtFe. 

Prior to 1962 the rare gases were frequently called inert gases as no chemical compounds were known (there were a few clathrates and hydrates ), but the realization that the ionization potential of xenon was sufficiently low to be accessible to chemical reaction led to the preparation of several fluorides, oxides, oxyfluorides, and a hexafluoroplatinate of xenon. Several unstable krypton and radon compounds have been synthesized. 

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