Copper(I) fluoride or cuprous fluoride is an
inorganic compound
An inorganic compound is typically a chemical compound that lacks carbon–hydrogen bondsthat is, a compound that is not an organic compound. The study of inorganic compounds is a subfield of chemistry known as ''inorganic chemistry''.
Inorgan ...
with the chemical formula CuF. Its existence is uncertain. It was reported in 1933 to have a
sphalerite
Sphalerite is a sulfide mineral with the chemical formula . It is the most important ore of zinc. Sphalerite is found in a variety of deposit types, but it is primarily in Sedimentary exhalative deposits, sedimentary exhalative, Carbonate-hoste ...
-type
crystal structure
In crystallography, crystal structure is a description of ordered arrangement of atoms, ions, or molecules in a crystalline material. Ordered structures occur from intrinsic nature of constituent particles to form symmetric patterns that repeat ...
. Modern textbooks state that CuF is not known, since fluorine is so
electronegative
Electronegativity, symbolized as , is the tendency for an atom of a given chemical element to attract shared electrons (or electron density) when forming a chemical bond. An atom's electronegativity is affected by both its atomic number and the d ...
that it will always oxidise copper to its +2
oxidation state
In chemistry, the oxidation state, or oxidation number, is the hypothetical Electrical charge, charge of an atom if all of its Chemical bond, bonds to other atoms are fully Ionic bond, ionic. It describes the degree of oxidation (loss of electrons ...
.
Complexes of CuF such as
Ph3P)3CuFare, however, known and well characterised.
Synthesis and reactivity
Unlike other copper(I) halides like
copper(I) chloride
Copper(I) chloride, commonly called cuprous chloride, is the lower chloride of copper, with the formula CuCl. The substance is a white solid sparingly soluble in water, but very soluble in concentrated hydrochloric acid. Impure samples appear gr ...
, copper(I) fluoride tends to
disproportionate into copper(II) fluoride and copper in a one-to-one ratio at ambient conditions, unless it is stabilised through complexation as in the example of
u(N2)F
:2CuF → Cu + CuF
2
See also
*
Copper(II) fluoride, the other simple fluoride of copper
References
{{fluorides
Fluorides
Metal halides
Copper(I) compounds
Zincblende crystal structure
Hypothetical_chemical_compounds