Silver subfluoride is the inorganic compound with the formula Ag₂F. This is an unusual example of a compound where the

oxidation state In chemistry, the oxidation state, or oxidation number, is the hypothetical charge of an atom if all of its bonds to different atoms were fully ionic. It describes the degree of oxidation (loss of electrons) of an atom in a chemical compound. C ...

of silver is fractional. The compound is produced by the reaction of silver and

silver(I) fluoride Silver(I) fluoride is the inorganic compound with the formula AgF. It is one of the three main fluorides of silver, the others being silver subfluoride and silver(II) fluoride. AgF has relatively few niche applications; it has been employed as ...

:Lee Poyer, Maurice Fielder, Hugh Harrison, Burl E. Bryant "Disilver Fluoride: (Silver “Subfluoride”)" Inorganic Syntheses, 1957, Volume 5, 92–94. :Ag + AgF → Ag₂F It forms small crystals with a bronze reflex and is a good conductor of

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as describ ...

. On contact with water almost instant

hydrolysis Hydrolysis (; ) is any chemical reaction in which a molecule of water breaks one or more chemical bonds. The term is used broadly for substitution, elimination, and solvation reactions in which water is the nucleophile. Biological hydrolys ...

occurs with the precipitation of

silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

(Ag) powder.

Crystal structure

Ag₂F adopts the anti-CdI₂

crystal structure In crystallography, crystal structure is a description of the ordered arrangement of atoms, ions or molecules in a crystalline material. Ordered structures occur from the intrinsic nature of the constituent particles to form symmetric patterns ...

, i.e. the same structure as

cadmium iodide Cadmium iodide is the inorganic compound with the formula CdI2. It is a white hygroscopic solid. It also can be obtained as a mono- and tetrahydrate. It has few applications. It is notable for its crystal structure, which is typical for compoun ...

, CdI₂, but with "Ag^½+" centres in the I⁻ positions and F⁻ in the Cd²⁺ positions. The shortest distance between silver atoms is 299.6 pm (compared to 289 pm in the metal).Egon Wiberg, Arnold Frederick Holleman (2001) ''Inorganic Chemistry'', Elsevier

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Silver Subfluoride Metal halides Fluorides Silver compounds