Talk:Fluoroantimonic acid

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[edit] 1016 or 1019?

Is it twenty quadrillion or twenty quintillion times stronger than sulfuric acid? WP:V! Hyenaste 06:13, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

Twenty QUINtillion. At least that's what Guiness claimed, and what other websites listed as well. -anonymous user

This page conflicts with superacid. Superacid says fluroanitmonic acid is only 1016 times as strong as sulfuric acid, but this page says it is 2 times 1019 times as strong. Should a contradiction be flagged on the two pages? Mathwhiz90601 03:00, 4 February 2007 (UTC)

How is this stored? It seems worth answering on the main page, if anyone knows. Amber388 03:44, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Corrosive?

Is this acid merely strong or is it corrosive as well? 129.44.209.60 21:25, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

Most strong acids are corrosive. This material is rapidly decomposed in air (hydrolysis) to give HF, so the question is really, how bad is HF? Ans: bad.--Smokefoot 22:13, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
HF I know about. Nasty stuff. Thanks; I was asking since I recalled hearing about some superacid that wasn't corrosive, and knew that HF was more corrosive than HCl, which is a strong acid. 129.44.209.60 22:17, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
It would seem that it would be corrosive anyway -- it decomposes all organic compounds. Basically it would react with your skin. Ouch.--The Sultan of Surreal. 06:35, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

It says that Fluoroantimonic acid is stored in teflon. And, I know what one of you were talking about when you brought up another acid that was extremely powerful, and not very corrosive. It's called a carborane acid. But fluoroantimonic acid is pretty much the most corrosive substance known.(UTC)

[edit] First reference

It says..."It reacts with virtually all known solvents." What's the example for which this acid does not react with? --HappyCamper 00:15, 30 October 2006 (UTC).

I glanced at the review but not the original papers. The solvent of choice is sulfuryl chloride fluoride and apparently in some cases dichloromethane and I think that they cut it with HF to lower the viscosity. I need to look at the actual preps.--Smokefoot 02:41, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] For sale?

Does anyone know where I can get this stuff or the ingredients? Thx. --74.134.8.244 19:15, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

Do a Google search for companies that sell chemicals to the general public. HF is a common reagent, as is SbF5. Keep this in mind, however: more or less the only thing it doesn't dissolve is Teflon, and I don't think you actually understand exactly how dangerous this acid is. It fumes when it comes into contact with moisture, like hydrochloric acid but worse, and is supposed to be used under controlled conditions. Its reaction with bases, for example, may be explosive. Bbi5291 23:36, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "Deprotonation"

As I understand it, the sentence that was just reverted is trying to say "when you react the superacid with a hydrocarbon, you get hydrogen gas expelled from the system, with the hydrocarbon ultimately losing a hydrogen to become a carbocation". There are many words for that, but I don't think "protonation" is one of them. Maybe the article on protonation is incorrect, but here is an excerpt: "Upon protonating a substrate, the mass and the charge of the species each increase by one unit." It seems to me that the hydrocarbon doesn't *receive* the extra proton - the net reaction seems to involve *losing* a hydrogen it already had. (okay, the superacid is obviously not a base so I can see why you would object to using the word "deprotonation" here, but surely "protonation" is even more misleading? seems to me this reaction is kind of analogous to a hydride group leaving the carbon, rather than what you would call a "protonation") ugen64 06:21, 16 November 2007 (UTC)


I'd say the first step is indeed a protonation, followed by the elimination of H2. Usage is correct. --Rifleman 82 11:12, 16 November 2007 (UTC)

Yes, the intermediate would be a protonated hydrocarbon such as CH5+. --Itub 12:59, 16 November 2007 (UTC)
Ugen64: Great comments. You can see why inorganic chemists use the word 'dihydrogen' for H2, as your words are difficult to parse because hydrogen means H and H2. But in any case, X-H + H+ --> X+ + H2 (where X = any molecular fragment) is not a deprotonation but loss of hydride (H-). Chemists do not really have a single word ("dehydridation") that would be the opposite to deprotonation. Hydrocarbons do this reaction reluctantly, but this acid is seriously strong. And yes as Rifleman points out, the intermediate in H2 loss features pentacoordinate carbon, but we're used to that by now (see trimethylaluminium).--Smokefoot 13:25, 16 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Gold

Will it dissolve noble metals like Gold or Platinum —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.69.220.228 (talk) 18:59, 18 March 2008 (UTC)