Hypofluorous acid

Hypofluorous acid is a chemical compound with the chemical formula HOF. It is the only known oxoacid of fluorine, and one of the only compounds where oxygen has a nonnegative oxidation state.

It is related to the other hypohalous acids (hypochlorous acid, hypobromous acid, and hypoiodous acid), but has different chemistry because the chemical bond between oxygen and fluorine is different from the bonds between oxygen and most other elements. Hypofluorous acid is the only hypohalous acid to be made as a solid.[1]

Structure

In most compounds, oxygen has an oxidation state of -2, because it pulls electrons away from the atoms it is bonded to. Hypofluorous acid is unusual because fluorine pulls harder on electrons than oxygen does, so while oxygen gains an electron from hydrogen, it loses one to the fluorine atom, and has a formal oxidation state of 0.

As a solid, its structure is shaped by hydrogen bonds between hydrogen and oxygen, without fluorine being involved.[1]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Poll, Wolfgang; Pawelke, Gottfried; Mootz, Dietrich; Appelman, Evan H. (1988). "The Crystal Structure of Hypofluorous Acid : Chain Formation by O-H · · · O Hydrogen Bonds". Angewandte Chemie International Edition in English. 27 (3): 392–393. doi:10.1002/anie.198803921.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.