Bromine trifluoride

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Bromine trifluoride is an interhalogen compound with the formula BrF₃. It is a straw-coloured liquid with a pungent odor. It is soluble in sulfuric acid but reacts violently with water and organic compounds. It is a powerful fluorinating agent and an ionizing inorganic solvent. It is used to produce uranium hexafluoride (UF₆) in the processing and reprocessing of nuclear fuel.

Video Bromine trifluoride

Synthesis

Bromine trifluoride was first described by Paul Lebeau in 1906, who obtained the material by the reaction of bromine with fluorine at 20 °C:

Br₂ + 3 F₂ -> 2 BrF₃

The disproportionation of bromine monofluoride also gives bromine trifluoride:

3 BrF -> BrF₃ + Br₂

Maps Bromine trifluoride

Structure

Like ClF₃ and IF₃, the BrF₃ molecule is T-shaped and planar. In the VSEPR formalism, the bromine center is assigned two electron pairs. The distance from the bromine each axial fluorine is 1.81 Å and to the equatorial fluorine is 1.72 Å. The angle between an axial fluorine and the equatorial fluorine is slightly smaller than 90° -- the 86.2° angle observed is due to the repulsion generated by the electron pairs being greater than that of the Br-F bonds.

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Chemical properties

BrF₃ is a fluorinating agent, but less reactive than ClF₃. The liquid is conducting, owing to autoionisation:

2 BrF₃ ? BrF₂⁺ + BrF₄^-

Many ionic fluorides dissolve readily in BrF₃ forming fluoroanions:

KF + BrF₃ -> KBrF₄

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References

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External links

• WebBook page for BrF3

Source of article : Wikipedia