Halogen Oxides

Oxides are compounds formed from the combination of an element with an oxygen atom. One example is a halogen oxide. Halogen oxides are formed when the halogen elements (F, Cl, Br and I) bind to oxygen atoms.

Let us discuss one by one the oxides formed by halogen elements.

Fluorine Oxide
The only fluorine oxide compound that is stable at room temperature is oxygen difluoride, with the chemical formula OF2. This compound is a pale yellow gas. The molecular geometry of oxygen difluoride is V - shapes.

Oxygen typically has an oxidation number - 2. But in the oxygen difluoride compound, its oxygen atom has a +2 oxidation number. This is because the fluorine atom is more electronegative than oxygen, so the atom with the negative oxidation number is fluorine (-1).

Chlorine Oxide
Chlorine forms several oxide compounds. All chlorine oxide compounds have low activation energies for decomposition. This causes the chlorine oxide compound to be unstable and tends to explode.

We will not study all the chlorine oxides. One of the interesting chlorine oxide compounds to study is chlorine dioxide, with the chemical formula ClO2.

At room temperature, chlorine dioxide is a yellow gas. But if the temperature is lowered to 11 degrees Celsius, chlorine dioxide will condense into a dark red liquid. Liquid chlorine dioxide is quite soluble in water. If we dissolve in water, it will form a fairly stable green solution.

Possibility Of Chlorine Dioxide Lewis Structure

Chlorine dioxide is paramagnetic, just like nitrogen dioxide. However, chlorine dioxide does not show a tendency to form dimers. In contrast to the nitrogen dioxide that prefers to form its dimer, N2O4.

Chlorine dioxide is a very strong oxidizing agent. To be safe to store, chlorine dioxide is usually mixed with nitrogen or carbon dioxide.

One proof that chlorine dioxide is a very strong oxidizing agent can be seen in the bleaching process of flour. Chlorine dioxide can whiten flour 30 times faster than dichlorine (Cl2).

In addition to the bleaching process of flour, chlorine dioxide is also used in the pulp bleaching process. The pulp needs to be whitened in order to be made into white paper.

However, the use of dichlorine is much safer than chlorine dioxide. This is because the organochlorine compounds formed by dichlorine are much less than chlorine dioxide. Organochlorine compounds are toxic compounds that are harmful to humans.

Although chlorine dioxide is an explosive substance, it is essential in industry.

To synthesize chlorine dioxide, we will involve redox reactions. Cl atom at ClO3- ion which has +5 oxidation number will be reduced by chlorine ion that has - 1 oxidation number. This reaction takes place under very acidic conditions.

The reaction will form a chlorine dioxide compound with +4 oxidation number.

2ClO3- (aq) + 4H + (aq) + 2Cl- (aq) ==> 2 ClO2 (g) + Cl2 (g) + 2H2O (l)

Oxides formed by bromine compounds are very small and not very interesting to learn. For that, we just discuss the oxide formed by iodine.

Iodine Oxide
The iodine oxide we will discuss is diiodine pentaoxide, with the chemical formula I2O5. This compound is a white solid and stable thermodynamically. Diiodine pentoxide may react with reducing gases, for example, carbon monoxide.

I2O5 (s) + 5CO2 (g) ==> I2 (s) + 5CO2 (s)

The usefulness of the above reaction is a method of qualitative or quantitative analysis to determine the presence of carbon monoxide produced by the combustion of fuel in vehicle engines.

If Iodine solids form a black color, the combustion of fuel on the vehicle engine is not perfect. The amount of iodine formed can be an indicator of the amount of carbon monoxide produced by the vehicle engine.

Well, that's a brief explanation of the oxide compounds formed by halogen elements. Hope this article useful for you!

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