Xenon Chlorides

    Xenon dichloride has been detected by matrix isolation. It is obtained on condensing the products of a microwave discharge in a mixture of Cl₂ and a large excess of Xe at 20 K. Fully characterized compounds containing Xe^_Cl bonds are rare, and most also contain Xe^_C bonds. The [XeCl]‏ ion is formed as the [Sb₂F₁₁]^- salt on treatment of [XeF]⁺‏[SbF₆]^- in anhydrous HF/SbF₅ with SbCl₅. In the solid state (data collected at 123 K), cation–anion interactions are observed in [XeCl][Sb₂F₁₁] as shown in structure 1.1. The Xe^_Cl bond length is the shortest known to date. At 298 K, [XeCl][Sb₂F₁₁] decomposes according to equation 1.1.

(1.1)

                   (1.1)