Creating a Noble Gas Molecule

Students across the world are introduced to chemistry during their secondary schooling. Upon starting a chemistry course, the periodic table of elements is undoubtedly one of the first things mentioned. The renowned tabular display of chemical elements is used to quickly refer to information about an element, such as the chemical symbol and atomic number. The columns of the periodic table are called groups. The rows of the periodic table are called periods. The last group of elements on the periodic table is known as the noble gases. These elements are unreactive; in other words, it is hard for these elements to combine with other elements because they are “reluctant to share electrons from their filled outer electron shells” (Coaxing Reactivity).

However, despite the challenges of bonding other substances to noble gases, Neil Bartlett, a British chemist, created a molecule using noble gases in the 1960s and won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The molecule is xenon hexafluoroplatinate (XePtF6).

Bartlett was interested in creating a compound with the element xenon, a noble gas. He observed that xenon had a similar ionization potential to oxygen. Later, Bartlett came across a compound that was such a powerful “oxidant that it could oxidize oxygen itself, by stealing electrons from it” (Bennett). This inspired him to conduct an experiment with xenon and that powerful oxidant compound. The super powerful oxidant was a yellow-brown solid known as platinum hexafluoride (Platinum).

In Bartlett’s previous experiments with platinum and fluorine, he accidentally let some oxygen into the mixture. This caused the mix of platinum and fluorine to turn red. He realized that platinum hexafluoride could react with oxygen and the cause of turning the mixture red was because it had been oxidized.

In March 1962, Bartlett performed his experiment on xenon and platinum hexafluoride. He took one flask* that contained xenon and another flask with a vapor of platinum hexafluoride. He broke the seal between the two substances and waited for the red vapor of platinum hexafluoride to mix with the colorless xenon gas. Immediately, an orange-yellow solid formed in front of his eyes. Neil Barnett was the first person to see a compound of xenon.

Neil Barnett’s experiment has made history. When people denied that a noble gas could form any compound, Neil Barnett disproved them with his creation of xenon hexafluoroplatinate. Later, scientists began to experiment with noble gases and tried to form other noble gas compounds. To this day, “only krypton, xenon, and radon are known to form stable compounds” (Noble Gas). Xenon hexafluoroplatinate serves as a “fluorinating agent for inorganic as well as organic compounds” (Xenon hexafluoride). Whether or not XePtF6 is useful to mankind in daily life, it does serve as an important historical item in the field of chemistry.

Footnotes

1. “Ionization potential, aka ionization energy – the amount of energy required to remove an electron from an isolated atom or molecule” (Britannica).

2. “A chemical compound that easily transfers oxygen or another substance atoms in order to gain an electron” (Oxidizing Agent).

3. Oxidize or oxidation - “A chemical reaction that takes place when a substance comes into contact with oxygen or another oxidizing substance. Examples of oxidation are rust and the brown color on a cut apple” (Oxidation).

References

Bennett, Hayley. “Xenon hexafluoroplatinate.” Royal Society of Chemistry. 30 Sept. 2015. www.chemistryworld.com/podcasts/xenon-hexafluoroplatinate/9010.article. Accessed 1 Sept. 2022.

Halford, Bethany. “Coaxing Reactivity from the Noble Gases.” ACS Publications. July 9, 2019. pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acscentsci.9b00631#:~:text=Because%20they're%20reluctant%20to,gases%20are%20generally%20considered%20unreactive. Accessed 1 Sept. 2022.

www.chemistryworld.com/podcasts/xenon-hexafluoroplatinate/9010.article. Accessed 1 Sept. 2022.

“Ionization energy.” Britannica.

www.britannica.com/science/ionization-energy. Accessed 1 Sept. 2022.

“Noble gas.” Britannica. www.britannica.com/science/noble-gas. Accessed 1 Sept. 2022.

“Oxidizing Agent.” Byju’s. https://bit.ly/3cLNwvm. Accessed 1 Sept. 2022.

“Oxidation.” National Cancer Institute. www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/def/oxidation. Accessed 1 Sept. 2022.

“Platinum.” University of Bristol. www.chm.bris.ac.uk/webprojects2003/freedman/Platinum%20Compounds.htm. Accessed 1 Sept. 2022.