What is Chlorine Trifluoride?
Chlorine Trifluoride is a liquid or gas that is highly poisonous to humans or environment and mostly used as rocket propellent especially by military industries. The chemical formula for the compound is ClF3 and its molecular mass is given as the 92.45 g mol-1.
Chlorine Trifluoride Structure
It is formed by mixing chloride cations and fluoride anions together. Additionally, the chloride atom has two lonely pairs of electrons that will follow the structure of a pyramid. The chemical structure for the compound could be given as below.
Chlorine Trifluoride Chemical Formula
This is very unstable chemical compound so It cannot be found in free state in the nature. It is prepared by mixing chlorine and fluorine together at 300 degree Celsius with the help of a nickel or copper catalyst.
3 F2 + Cl2 → 2 ClF3
Chlorine Trifluoride Molecular
It is generally defined as the colorless gas or green to yellow liquid with a pungent smell. The melting point of the compound is -76 ºC and its boiling point is 12 ºC respectively. The density of the compound is 1.77 g mL-1 approx. this compound is highly soluble in the water and it decomposes violently when exposed to the hot water to form chlorine or hydrofluoric acid etc.
Overall, Chlorine trifluoride is highly reactive in the nature, it can be formed by different type of reactions through controlled reaction with water. It is used in electronic industries to clean semiconductors from the chemical decomposition. In the case of second world war, it was studied as the chemical weapon. Mostly, this compound is used in nuclear fuel processing.