IChO 2016 · Theory problem 1

Nitrogen fluorides

Nitrogen trifluoride is a surprisingly stable compound that was first prepared in the melt electrolysis of a mixture of ammonium fluoride and hydrogen fluoride.

1.1 On which electrode does nitrogen trifluoride form? Write a balanced chemical equation for the electrode half reaction for the formation of \(\ce{NF3}\).

Interestingly the related fluoroamine (\(\ce{NH2F}\)) and difluoroamine (\(\ce{NHF2}\)) are very unstable materials; decomposition of either pure substance can even be explosive. This is dangerous as they are formed in the electrolysis as side products.

1.2 Which of \(\ce{NF3}\), \(\ce{NHF2}\) or \(\ce{NH2F}\) compound is expected to condense at the lowest temperature?

The \(\ce{N-F}\) bond lengths in these molecules were determined to be 136, 140 and 142 pm. The change in the bond lengths can be explained with a simple electrostatic model taking into account the partial charges on the atoms.

1.3 Assign the \(\ce{N-F}\) bond lengths (136, 140, 142 pm) to the molecules.

When \(\ce{NHF2}\) is bubbled through a solution of \(\ce{KF}\) in \(\ce{HF}\), a binary nitrogen – fluorine compound can be obtained as a mixture of two geometric isomers.

1.4 Write a balanced chemical equation for the formation of the binary nitrogen-fluorine compound.

Tetrafluoroammonium ion (\(\ce{NF4+}\)) and its corresponding salt can form from \(\ce{NF3}\) with elementary fluorine in the presence of an appropriate reagent.

1.5 Propose a suitable reagent and write a balanced chemical equation for the reaction.

\(\ce{NF4+}\) ions form stable salts with a number of anions. These are very sensitive to humidity, because \(\ce{NF4+}\) ion hydrolyzes forming \(\ce{NF3}\) and \(\ce{O2}\). Interestingly nitrogen trifluoride always forms quantitatively, while the quantity of oxygen is often less than expected due to side reactions.

1.6 Write a balanced chemical equation for the hydrolysis of \(\ce{NF4+}\) Write a balanced chemical equation for a possible side reaction that can decrease the theoretically expected \(\ce{O2}:\ce{NF3}\) mole ratio.

Tetrafluoroammonium salts were investigated for use as solid rocket fuels, because \(\ce{NF3}\) and \(\ce{F2}\) are released from them on heating. One of them has a fluorine content of 65.6 \(m/m\%\), all of which is converted into \(\ce{NF3}\) and \(\ce{F2}\) upon decomposition. During the decomposition 2.5 times as many moles of \(\ce{F2}\) are formed as of \(\ce{NF3}\).

1.7 Determine the formula of the salt in question.

Official English text of the problem.

Answers

  • 1.1 Nitrogen trifluoride, \(\ce{NF3}\), FN(F)F, forms at the anode: \[ \boxed{\ce{NH4+ + 7F- -> NF3 + 4HF + 6e-}} \]

  • 1.2 Nitrogen trifluoride, \(\ce{NF3}\), FN(F)F, condenses at the lowest temperature.

  • 1.3 The bond lengths are:

Molecule Name SMILES \(\ce{N-F}\) bond length
\(\ce{NF3}\) Nitrogen trifluoride FN(F)F 136 pm
\(\ce{NHF2}\) Difluoroamine FNF 140 pm
\(\ce{NH2F}\) Fluoroamine NF 142 pm
  • 1.4 \[ \boxed{\ce{2NHF2 -> N2F2 + 2HF}} \] The product is dinitrogen difluoride (difluorodiazene), as cis-\((Z)\) F/N=N\F and trans-\((E)\) F/N=N/F isomers.

  • 1.5 A suitable reagent is antimony pentafluoride, \(\ce{SbF5}\), F[Sb](F)(F)(F)F: \[ \boxed{\ce{NF3 + F2 + SbF5 -> [NF4][SbF6]}} \] The salt is tetrafluoroammonium hexafluoroantimonate(V), [N+](F)(F)(F)F.F[Sb-](F)(F)(F)(F)F.

  • 1.6 Main hydrolysis: \[ \boxed{\ce{2NF4+ + 2H2O -> 2NF3 + O2 + 2HF + 2H+}} \] A possible side reaction forms oxygen difluoride, \(\ce{OF2}\), FOF: \[ \boxed{\ce{2NF4+ + H2O -> 2NF3 + OF2 + 2H+}} \]

  • 1.7 \[ \boxed{\ce{(NF4)2[XeF8]}} \] This is bis(tetrafluoroammonium) octafluoroxenate(VI). Its ionic SMILES is [N+](F)(F)(F)F.[N+](F)(F)(F)F.[Xe-2](F)(F)(F)(F)(F)(F)(F)F.

Solution

1.1 — Electrode and half-reaction

Nitrogen has oxidation state \(-3\) in ammonium and \(+3\) in nitrogen trifluoride. Its conversion therefore releases six electrons per nitrogen atom:

\[ \ce{N^{-III} -> N^{+III} + 6e-} \]

Oxidation occurs at the anode, which is the positive electrode in this electrolytic cell.

Balancing nitrogen, fluorine, hydrogen and charge gives a convenient half-reaction for the fluoride-containing melt:

\[ \ce{NH4+ + 7F- -> NF3 + 4HF + 6e-} \]

The total charge is \(-6\) on each side. The seven fluoride ions supply three fluorine atoms to nitrogen trifluoride and four to hydrogen fluoride.

The additional species are ammonium, \(\ce{NH4+}\), [NH4+]; fluoride, \(\ce{F-}\), [F-]; and hydrogen fluoride, \(\ce{HF}\), [H]F.

1.2 — Lowest condensation temperature

At the same pressure, the compound with the weakest intermolecular attraction is expected to condense at the lowest temperature.

Fluoroamine and difluoroamine contain \(\ce{N-H}\) bonds and can form intermolecular hydrogen bonds. Nitrogen trifluoride has no hydrogen-bond donor and consequently lacks this contribution to intermolecular association.

Thus \(\ce{NF3}\) has the lowest expected condensation temperature.

All three molecules have three bonds and one lone pair at nitrogen, giving a trigonal-pyramidal arrangement around nitrogen; their SMILES do not specify this geometry.

1.3 — Assignment of bond lengths

Fluorine attracts bonding electrons more strongly than nitrogen, whereas nitrogen attracts them more strongly than hydrogen.

Replacing a hydrogen atom bonded to nitrogen with fluorine therefore makes nitrogen progressively more positively charged. In the stated electrostatic model, this strengthens the attraction between nitrogen and the negatively polarized fluorine atoms, shortening the \(\ce{N-F}\) bond.

Consequently,

\[ r_{\ce{N-F}}(\ce{NF3}) < r_{\ce{N-F}}(\ce{NHF2}) < r_{\ce{N-F}}(\ce{NH2F}), \]

which assigns

\[ \boxed{ \begin{aligned} r_{\ce{N-F}}(\ce{NF3})&=136\ \mathrm{pm},\\ r_{\ce{N-F}}(\ce{NHF2})&=140\ \mathrm{pm},\\ r_{\ce{N-F}}(\ce{NH2F})&=142\ \mathrm{pm}. \end{aligned} } \]

1.4 — Formation of the binary fluoride

The product is dinitrogen difluoride, \(\ce{N2F2}\), with connectivity \(\ce{F-N=N-F}\). Its nitrogen–nitrogen double bond allows two geometric isomers:

  • cis-\((Z)\)-difluorodiazene, F/N=N\F: the fluorine atoms lie on the same side of the double bond.
  • trans-\((E)\)-difluorodiazene, F/N=N/F: the fluorine atoms lie on opposite sides.

Both structures are planar. Their double-bond stereochemistry is encoded by the SMILES slashes.

Combining two difluoroamine molecules and eliminating two hydrogen fluoride molecules gives

\[ \ce{2NHF2 -> N2F2 + 2HF}. \]

Both sides contain two nitrogen, two hydrogen and four fluorine atoms.

1.5 — Formation of a tetrafluoroammonium salt

A strong fluoride-ion acceptor can stabilize the counteranion formed during fluorination. Antimony pentafluoride, \(\ce{SbF5}\), is suitable because it accepts fluoride to form hexafluoroantimonate(V):

\[ \ce{SbF5 + F- -> SbF6-}. \]

The overall reaction with difluorine, \(\ce{F2}\), FF, is

\[ \ce{NF3 + F2 + SbF5 -> [NF4][SbF6]}. \]

The product contains:

  • Tetrafluoroammonium, \(\ce{NF4+}\), [N+](F)(F)(F)F, with tetrahedral geometry.
  • Hexafluoroantimonate(V), \(\ce{SbF6-}\), F[Sb-](F)(F)(F)(F)F, with octahedral geometry.

The reagent SMILES represents a monomeric \(\ce{SbF5}\) unit, whose molecular geometry is trigonal bipyramidal. Dot-separated ionic SMILES specify the salt’s constituent ions without specifying crystal packing.

1.6 — Hydrolysis and reduced oxygen yield

Nitrogen changes from oxidation state \(+5\) in \(\ce{NF4+}\) to \(+3\) in \(\ce{NF3}\), accepting two electrons per nitrogen atom. Water supplies these electrons by oxidation to dioxygen:

\[ \ce{2H2O -> O2 + 4H+ + 4e-}. \]

The corresponding nitrogen reduction is

\[ \ce{2NF4+ + 4e- -> 2NF3 + 2F-}. \]

Combining these and writing two fluoride ions with two protons as hydrogen fluoride gives

\[ \boxed{\ce{2NF4+ + 2H2O -> 2NF3 + O2 + 2HF + 2H+}}. \]

Here water is \(\ce{H2O}\), O; dioxygen is \(\ce{O2}\), O=O; and the hydrogen ion is \(\ce{H+}\), [H+].

The theoretical mole ratio is therefore

\[ \left(\frac{n(\ce{O2})}{n(\ce{NF3})}\right)_{\mathrm{main}} =\frac12. \]

A possible competing reaction fluor­inates water to oxygen difluoride, \(\ce{OF2}\), FOF:

\[ \boxed{\ce{2NF4+ + H2O -> 2NF3 + OF2 + 2H+}}. \]

In this reaction, oxygen changes from oxidation state \(-2\) to \(+2\), releasing the four electrons required to reduce two tetrafluoroammonium ions. Oxygen difluoride is a bent molecule.

Both routes produce one nitrogen trifluoride molecule per tetrafluoroammonium ion, but the side reaction produces no molecular oxygen. It therefore preserves quantitative formation of \(\ce{NF3}\) while reducing the observed \(\ce{O2}:\ce{NF3}\) ratio below \(1:2\).

1.7 — Identification of the salt

For each mole of nitrogen trifluoride formed, the products contain

\[ 3+2(2.5)=8 \]

moles of fluorine atoms. Thus the salt contains eight fluorine atoms per nitrogen atom.

Using standard atomic molar masses \(M(\ce{F})=19.00\) and \(M(\ce{N})=14.01\ \mathrm{g\,mol^{-1}}\), the mass of salt corresponding to one mole of nitrogen atoms is

\[ \frac{8(19.00)}{0.656} =231.7\ \mathrm{g}. \]

After subtracting nitrogen and fluorine, the mass attributable to the remaining constituent is

\[ 231.7-14.01-8(19.00) =65.7\ \mathrm{g} \]

per mole of nitrogen atoms.

Twice this value is

\[ 2(65.7)=131.4\ \mathrm{g\,mol^{-1}}, \]

which matches xenon, \(M(\ce{Xe})=131.29\ \mathrm{g\,mol^{-1}}\). Hence one xenon atom accompanies two tetrafluoroammonium cations.

There are sixteen fluorine atoms per formula unit. Eight belong to the two cations, leaving eight in the dianion:

\[ \boxed{\ce{(NF4)2[XeF8]}}. \]

The anion is octafluoroxenate(VI), \(\ce{XeF8^2-}\), [Xe-2](F)(F)(F)(F)(F)(F)(F)F. Xenon has oxidation state \(+6\), since

\[ x+8(-1)=-2 \quad\Longrightarrow\quad x=+6. \]

The anion has square-antiprismatic coordination geometry, which its SMILES does not encode.

The balanced decomposition is

\[ \ce{(NF4)2[XeF8] -> 2NF3 + 5F2 + Xe}, \]

where elemental xenon has SMILES [Xe]. This gives

\[ \frac{n(\ce{F2})}{n(\ce{NF3})} =\frac52=2.5. \]

Finally,

\[ M_{\text{salt}} =2(14.01)+131.29+16(19.00) =463.31\ \mathrm{g\,mol^{-1}}, \]

and

\[ w_{\ce{F}} =\frac{16(19.00)}{463.31}\times100\% =65.6148\% \approx\boxed{65.6\%}. \]

Both experimental constraints are satisfied.

The solution was checked against the official solution.