Formation and characterization of uranium(VI) chloride fluorides,UFnCl6–n(n= 1–5)
Abstract
Fluorine-19 n.m.r. measurements show that UF6 undergoes facile halide exchange with either SiMe3Cl or UCl6 in CFCl3 or CF2Cl2 solution at temperatures below –60 °C. Hence all the uranium (VI) chloride fluorides in the series UFnCl6-n(n= 1–5) have been characterized virtually definitively. The visible and mass spectra of the mixed halides have been investigated also. Unlike UF6 and UCl6, the mixed halides decompose at temperatures above –60 °C liberating chlorine gas and giving halides of uranium(IV) or uranium(V).