Hypofluorous acid
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hypofluorous acid is the chemical compound with the formula HOF. It is an intermediate in the oxidation of water by fluorine, which affords HF and oxygen. It is the only hypohalic acid that can be isolated as a solid. HOF is explosive, decomposing to oxygen and HF.[1]
The compound has been characterized by X-ray crystallography. It is a bent molecule with an angle of 101°. The O-F and O-H bond lengths are 1.442 and 0.78 A, respectively. The solid framework consists of chains with O-H---O linkages.
Hypofluorous acid in acetonitrile (generated in situ by passing gaseous fluorine through "wet" acetonitrile) serves as a highly electrophilic oxygen-transfer agent.[2] Treating phenanthroline with this reagent yielded the previously elusive 1,10-phenanthroline dioxide,[3] more than 50 years after the first unsuccessful attempt.[4]
[edit] See also
- Hypochlorous acid, a related species that is more technologically important but has not been obtained in pure form.
[edit] References
- ^ Poll, W.; Pawelke, G.; Mootz, D.; Appelman, E. H. “The Crystal Structure of Hypofluorous Acid : Chain Formation by 0-H . . . O Hydrogen Bonds” Anqewandte Chemie international Edition English Volume 27 (1988), p. 392.
- ^ S. Rozen, M. Brand, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 1986, 25, 554-5; S. Dayan, Y. Bareket, S. Rozen, Tetrahedron 1999, 55, 3657.
- ^ S. Rozen, S. Dayan, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 1999, 38, 3471-3.
- ^ F. Linsker, R.L. Evans, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1946, 68, 403.
