xenon hexafluoroplatinate

xenon hexafluoroplatinate
Name	xenon hexafluoroplatinate
Othernames	noble gas platinum fluoride salt
Formula	approximate Xe+[PtF6]−
Appearance	dark solid (varies)
Discovery	1962
Discoverer	Derek Barton?
Category	noble gas compound

Contents

xenon hexafluoroplatinate Xenon hexafluoroplatinate is an ionic noble gas compound reported in 1962 that catalyzed extensive research in inorganic chemistry, rare gas chemistry, and coordination chemistry. The compound’s initial characterization prompted study across institutions such as Imperial College London, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Max Planck Society, influencing laboratories at University of Oxford, Cambridge University, and California Institute of Technology.

Introduction

The 1962 report of xenon reacting with platinum(VI) fluoride at University of London laboratories challenged prevailing views held at Royal Society meetings and in texts used at University of Chicago and Yale University, inspiring groups at Bell Labs, IBM Research, and Los Alamos National Laboratory to investigate noble gas chemistry. Work on the substance linked to chemical phenomena discussed in seminars at Princeton University, Columbia University, and University of California, Berkeley, and influenced textbooks used at Cornell University, Stanford University, and University of Michigan.

Preparations historically involved compressing xenon gas from sources used in laboratories at Argonne National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory with fluorinating agents prepared in glassware from vendors used by Scripps Research, with handling protocols influenced by safety committees at National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Early methods mixed xenon with platinum hexafluoride in apparatuses similar to those employed at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and Brookhaven National Laboratory, with reaction conditions controlled using equipment from Siemens and General Electric. Techniques were refined in collaboration among groups at University of Tokyo, ETH Zurich, and University of Toronto.

Interpretations of the product’s structure relied on spectroscopic facilities at National Physical Laboratory and diffractometers like those at European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, with theoretical models developed by researchers affiliated with University of Cambridge Department of Chemistry, California Institute of Technology Division of Chemistry, and Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids. Discussions compared ionic descriptions used at Columbia University Department of Chemistry with covalent frameworks studied at Imperial College Department of Chemistry and computational treatments from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Bonding models referenced work from scientists associated with Nobel Prize‑linked institutions including Karolinska Institutet, ETH Zurich Department of Chemistry, and University of Paris (Sorbonne).

Reported physical properties were measured using instrumentation purchased by groups at University of California, San Diego, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and Ohio State University, and data were debated at conferences hosted by American Chemical Society, Royal Society of Chemistry, and International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. Coloration, volatility, and paramagnetism observations referenced experimental standards from National Institute of Standards and Technology and procedures from European Chemical Society, with analysts from University of Edinburgh and University of Manchester contributing.

Reactivity studies were conducted in high‑vacuum systems like those at Jet Propulsion Laboratory and in cryogenic laboratories at Weizmann Institute of Science, examining decomposition pathways relevant to work by researchers at University of Illinois, University of Wisconsin–Madison, and Purdue University. Reports of redox behavior prompted follow-up at SRI International, Los Alamos, and Sandia National Laboratories, and were presented at meetings held by Gordon Research Conferences, American Physical Society, and European Chemical Society.

The announcement of xenon hexafluoroplatinate influenced Nobel discussions and citation networks involving scholars from University of Cambridge, Harvard Medical School, and MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, stimulating related discoveries such as xenon oxides and other noble gas compounds explored at University of Vienna, University of Amsterdam, and University of Helsinki. The finding reshaped curricula at University of Liverpool and University of Glasgow and was chronicled in reviews from publishers like Elsevier, Wiley, and Springer.

While primarily of fundamental interest and studied in academic laboratories at California Institute of Technology, MIT, and ETH Zurich, investigations connected to applications in catalysis were pursued by teams at BASF, Bayer, and Dow Chemical Company, and analytical techniques relevant to the compound were developed by groups at Thermo Fisher Scientific and Agilent Technologies. Educational demonstrations and historical retrospectives have been organized at museums such as the Science Museum, London and Smithsonian Institution.