Xenon compounds

Chemical compounds containing at least one xenon atom
Xenon compounds are compounds containing the element xenon (Xe). After Neil Bartlett's discovery in 1962 that xenon can form chemical compounds, a large number of xenon compounds have been discovered and described. Almost all known xenon compounds contain the electronegative atoms fluorine or oxygen. The chemistry of xenon in each oxidation state is analogous to that of the neighboring element iodine in the immediately lower oxidation state. These are the starting points for the synthesis of almost all xenon compounds. The solid, crystalline difluoride is formed when a mixture of fluorine and xenon gases is exposed to ultraviolet light. The ultraviolet component of ordinary daylight is sufficient. Long term heating of at high temperatures under an catalyst yields Pyrolysis of in the presence of NaF yields high purity
The xenon fluorides behave as both fluoride acceptors and fluoride donors, forming salts that contain such cations as and F3+, and anions such as XeF5 , XeF7 , and XeF82 The green, paramagnetic Xe2+ is formed by the reduction of by xenon gas. also forms coordination complexes with transition metal ions. More than 30 such complexes have been synthesized and characterized. is reported to be an endothermic, colorless, crystalline compound that decomposes into the elements at 80 °C. However, may be merely a van der Waals molecule of weakly bound Xe atoms and molecules and not a real compound. Theoretical calculations indicate that the linear molecule is less stable than the van der Waals complex. Xenon tetrachloride and xenon dibromide are more unstable that they cannot be synthesized by chemical reactions. They were created by radioactive decay of and , respectively.

Xenon can be directly bonded to a less electronegative element than fluorine or oxygen, particularly carbon. Electron withdrawing groups, such as groups with fluorine substitution, are necessary to stabilize these compounds. , where C6F5 is the pentafluorophenyl group. Other compounds containing xenon bonded to a less electronegative element include and The latter is synthesized from dioxygenyl tetrafluoroborate, , at −100 °C. An unusual ion containing xenon is the tetraxenonogold(II) cation, AuXe42+, which contains Xe–Au bonds. This ion occurs in the compound , and is remarkable in having direct chemical bonds between two notoriously unreactive atoms, xenon and gold, with xenon acting as a transition metal ligand. A similar mercury complex (HgXe)(Sb3F17) (formulated as [HgXe2+][Sb2F11–][SbF6–]) is also known. The compound contains a Xe–Xe bond, the longest element element bond known (308.71 pm = 3.0871 Å). In 1995, M. Räsänen and co workers, scientists at the University of Helsinki in Finland, announced the preparation of xenon dihydride (HXeH), and later xenon hydride hydroxide (HXeOH), hydroxenoacetylene (HXeCCH), and other Xe containing molecules. In 2008, Khriachtchev et al. reported the preparation of HXeOXeH by the photolysis of water within a cryogenic xenon matrix. Deuterated molecules, HXeOD and DXeOH, have also been produced.

In addition to compounds where xenon forms a chemical bond, xenon can form clathrates—substances where xenon atoms or pairs are trapped by the crystalline lattice of another compound. One example is xenon hydrate (Xe·5 3/4H2O), where xenon atoms occupy vacancies in a lattice of water molecules. This clathrate has a melting point of 24 °C. The deuterated version of this hydrate has also been produced. Another example is xenon hydride (Xe(H2)8), in which xenon pairs (dimers) are trapped inside solid hydrogen. Such clathrate hydrates can occur naturally under conditions of high pressure, such as in Lake Vostok underneath the Antarctic ice sheet. Clathrate formation can be used to fractionally distill xenon, argon and krypton. Xenon can also form endohedral fullerene compounds, where a xenon atom is trapped inside a fullerene molecule. The xenon atom trapped in the fullerene can be observed by 129Xe nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Through the sensitive chemical shift of the xenon atom to its environment, chemical reactions on the fullerene molecule can be analyzed. These observations are not without caveat, however, because the xenon atom has an electronic influence on the reactivity of the fullerene. When xenon atoms are in the ground energy state, they repel each other and will not form a bond. When xenon atoms becomes energized, however, they can form an excimer (excited dimer) until the electrons return to the ground state. This entity is formed because the xenon atom tends to complete the outermost electronic shell by adding an electron from a neighboring xenon atom. The typical lifetime of a xenon excimer is 1–5 nanoseconds, and the decay releases photons with wavelengths of about 150 and 173 nm. Xenon can also form excimers with other elements, such as the halogens bromine, chlorine, and fluorine.