| Inter halogen compounds |
| Halogens react with each other, under suitable conditions of concentration, temperature and pressure, to form a series of binary compounds of the formula XX'n ,where X and X' are different halogen atoms and n is 1,3,5 or 7. |
| With n=1, all the interhalogen compounds (XX') except IF are known. Other compounds are ClF3, BrF3, ICl3, ClF5, BrF35, IF5 and IF7. All inter halogen compounds are strong oxidizing agents. |
| The bonds in the interhalogen compounds are essentially covalent because of the small electro–negativity difference; the atom having larger electro – negativity acquires a negative charge. The molecular structures of these compounds are very interesting. ClF3, BrF3 and ICl3 are all T shaped molecules. |
| Interhalogen compounds are generally more reactive than the halogens. Fluorine has recently been found to react with Xenon, one of the noble gases, under various conditions to form the crystalline solids XeF2, XeF4 and XeF6, which are reasonably stable. |
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