Xenon Compounds - History and Background

History and Background

It was initially believed that the noble gases could not form compounds due to their full valence shell of electrons that rendered them very chemically stable and unreactive.

All noble gases have full s and p outer electron shells (except helium, which has no p sublevel), and so do not form chemical compounds easily. Because of their high ionization energy and almost zero electron affinity, they were not expected to be reactive.

In 1933 Linus Pauling predicted that the heavier noble gases would be able to form compounds with fluorine and oxygen. Specifically, he predicted the existence of krypton hexafluoride (KrF₆) and xenon hexafluoride (XeF₆), speculated that XeF₈ might exist as an unstable compound, and suggested that xenic acid would form perxenate salts. These predictions proved quite accurate, although subsequent predictions for XeF₈ indicated that it would be not only thermodynamically unstable, but kinematically unstable. As of 2009, XeF₈ has not been made, although the octafluoroxenate(VI) anion (XeF2−
8) has been observed.

The heavier noble gases have more electron shells than the lighter ones. Hence, the outermost electrons experience a shielding effect from the inner electrons that makes them more easily ionized, since they are less strongly attracted to the positively-charged nucleus. This results in an ionization energy low enough to form stable compounds with the most electronegative elements, fluorine and oxygen, and even with less electronegative elements such as nitrogen and carbon under certain circumstances.