Hydrogen Fluoride Polymer Spectrum, Hexamer and Tetramer

The experimental techniques employed to investigate the polymer absorption are presented. Experimental results at various pressures at temperatures from —70°C to +73°C are presented. The more important qualitative features noted are: (1) the absorption is strongly dependent upon both the temperature and pressure; (2) in some cases the shape of the bands is dependent upon the pressure; (3) at low temperature only very low pressures of vapor (hence of polymer) are necessary to observe some absorption. The application of Dalton's law, the law of mass action, Lambert's law, and Beer's law, as well as Van't Hoff's equation to the hydrogen fluoride monomer-polymer system is discussed. It is then shown that under some special circumstances the absorption varies simply as the fourth power of the pressure, under others as the sixth power of the pressure, but more generally where the absorption is strong as the sum of two terms, one containing the fourth power of the pressure the other the sixth power. The absorption thus corresponds to the overlapping spectra of a tetramer and of a hexamer, which can be separated on the basis of this pressure dependence. From the temperature variation of the absorption, the heats of polymerization are estimated as ΔH4 = —19 kcal/mole and ΔH6 = —40 kcal/mole. In general, the absorption outside the range of monomer absorption is as consistent with a tetramer-hexamer interpretation for deuterium fluoride as for hydrogen fluoride.