The Crucial Role of Sb2F10 in the Chemical Synthesis of F2 |
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| Authors: | Martin Möbs Prof David A Dixon Dr Gabriel F de Melo Dr Monica Vasiliu Tim Graubner Prof Karl O Christe Prof Florian Kraus |
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| Institution: | 1. Universität Marburg, Hans-Meerwein-Str. 4, 35032 Marburg, Germany;2. Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0336 USA;3. Loker Research Institute and Department of Chemistry, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089 USA |
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| Abstract: | The purely chemical synthesis of fluorine is a spectacular reaction which for more than a century had been believed to be impossible. In 1986, it was finally experimentally achieved, but since then this important reaction has not been further studied and its detailed mechanism had been a mystery. The known thermal stability of MnF4 casts serious doubts on the originally proposed hypothesis that MnF4 is thermodynamically unstable and decomposes spontaneously to a lower manganese fluoride and F2. This apparent discrepancy has now been resolved experimentally and by electronic structure calculations. It is shown that the reductive elimination of F2 requires a large excess of SbF5 and occurs in the last reaction step when in the intermediate SbF6]MnF2]Sb2F11] the addition of one more SbF5 molecule to the SbF6]? anion generates a second tridentate Sb2F11]? anion. The two tridentate Sb2F11]? anions then provide six fluorine bridges to the Mn atom thereby facilitating the reductive elimination of the two fluorine ligands as F2. |
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| Keywords: | Crystal Structure Analysis Electronic Structure Calculations Fluorine Manganese Tetrafluoride |
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