Silver tetrafluoroborate 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

molecular formula A chemical formula is a way of presenting information about the chemical proportions of atoms that constitute a particular chemical compound or molecule, using chemical element symbols, numbers, and sometimes also other symbols, such as paren ...

AgBF₄. It is a white solid, although commercial samples often are gray, that dissolves in polar organic solvents as well as water.

Preparation

Silver tetrafluoroborate can be prepared by several methods. A simple route entails dissolving

silver carbonate Silver carbonate is the chemical compound with the formula Ag2 C O3. This salt is yellow but typical samples are grayish due to the presence of elemental silver. It is poorly soluble in water, like most transition metal carbonates. Preparation a ...

in aqueous tetrafluoroboric acid. It can also be produced by treating

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 ...

with boron trifluoride in

nitromethane Nitromethane, sometimes shortened to simply "nitro", is an organic compound with the chemical formula . It is the simplest organic nitro compound. It is a polar liquid commonly used as a solvent in a variety of industrial applications such as in ...

solution. The reaction between

boron trifluoride Boron trifluoride is the inorganic compound with the formula . This pungent, colourless, and toxic gas forms white fumes in moist air. It is a useful Lewis acid and a versatile building block for other boron compounds. Structure and bonding The g ...

and a benzene suspension of

silver oxide Silver oxide is the chemical compound with the formula Ag2 O. It is a fine black or dark brown powder that is used to prepare other silver compounds. Preparation Silver oxide can be prepared by combining aqueous solutions of silver nitrate and ...

is yet another route, one that exploits the solubility of the compound in benzene. This method however affords

silver fulminate Silver fulminate (AgCNO) is the highly explosive silver salt of fulminic acid. Silver fulminate is a primary explosive, but has limited use as such due to its extreme sensitivity to impact, heat, pressure, and electricity. The compound becomes p ...

, a sensitive explosive.

Laboratory uses

In the

inorganic 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''. Inor ...

and

organometallic chemistry Organometallic chemistry is the study of organometallic compounds, chemical compounds containing at least one chemical bond between a carbon atom of an organic molecule and a metal, including alkali, alkaline earth, and transition metals, and so ...

laboratory, silver tetrafluoroborate, sometimes referred to "silver BF-4", is a used as a

reagent In chemistry, a reagent ( ) or analytical reagent is a substance or compound added to a system to cause a chemical reaction, or test if one occurs. The terms ''reactant'' and ''reagent'' are often used interchangeably, but reactant specifies a ...

to remove halide ligands and to oxidize electron-rich complexes. In dichloromethane, silver tetrafluoroborate is a moderately strong oxidant. Similar to silver hexafluorophosphate, it is commonly used to replace

halide In chemistry, a halide (rarely halogenide) is a binary chemical compound, of which one part is a halogen atom and the other part is an element or radical that is less electronegative (or more electropositive) than the halogen, to make a fl ...

anions or ligands with the weakly coordinating tetrafluoroborate anions. The abstraction of the halide is driven by the precipitation of the corresponding

silver halide A silver halide (or silver salt) is one of the chemical compounds that can form between the Chemical element, element silver (Ag) and one of the halogens. In particular, bromine (Br), chlorine (Cl), iodine (I) and fluorine (F) may each combine wit ...

Structure

left, 220px, Packing of AgBF₄. Color code: green = F, orange = B, blue = Ag According to

X-ray crystallography X-ray crystallography is the experimental science of determining the atomic and molecular structure of a crystal, in which the crystalline structure causes a beam of incident X-rays to Diffraction, diffract in specific directions. By measuring th ...

, the solid compound consists of Ag⁺ centers bound to four fluoride sites of the BF₄⁻.Evgeny Goreshnik, Zoran Mazej, "X-ray single crystal structure and vibrational spectra of AgBF₄" Solid State Sciences 2005, Volume 7, pp. 1225–1229.

References

Tetrafluoroborates Silver compounds Oxidizing agents {{inorganic-compound-stub