Failed Attempts at Oxidation of XeF ₆ : Synthesis and Characterization of [Xe ₂ F ₁₁ ][RuF ₆ ]

High Resolution Image Download MS PowerPoint Slide Herein we report our attempts to oxidize XeF 6 using RuF 6 in anhydrous HF (aHF) under various conditions. Contrary to expectations of forming a Xe(VIII) species such as [XeF 7 ] +, the reactions consistently resulted in the formation of F 2 gas and, depending on the stoichiometric ratio, either the known compound [XeF 5 ][RuF 6 ] or the novel Xe(VI) compound [Xe 2 F 11 ][RuF 6 ]. The latter was characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction and vibrational spectroscopy and studied with quantum chemical calculations. These, together with the consideration of reaction and lattice energies, suggest that an ionic solid containing [XeF 7 ] + cations may be stable. However, we did not observe its formation under our reaction conditions, as the decomposition of [XeF 7 ] + cations may be too fast in our case.