Molybdenum hexafluoride, also molybdenum(VI) fluoride, is the inorganic compound with the formula MoF6. It is the highest fluoride of molybdenum. It is a colourless solid and melts just below room temperature and boils in 34 °C. It is one of the seventeen known binary hexafluorides.

Synthesis

Molybdenum hexafluoride is made by direct reaction of molybdenum metal in an excess of elemental fluorine: The compound hydrolyzes easily, and typical impurities are MoO2F2 and MoOF4.

Description

At −140 °C, it crystallizes in the orthorhombic space group Pnma. Lattice parameters are a = 9.394 Å, b = 8.543 Å, and c = 4.959 Å. There are four formula units (in this case, discrete molecules) per unit cell, giving a density of 3.50 g·cm−3. The fluorine atoms are arranged in the hexagonal close packing. In liquid and gas phase, MoF6 adopt octahedral molecular geometry with point group Oh. The Mo–F bond length is 1.817 Å.

Applications

Molybdenum hexafluoride has few uses. In the nuclear industry, MoF6 occurs as an impurity in uranium hexafluoride since molybdenum is a fission product of uranium. The semiconductor industry constructs various integrated circuits through chemical vapor deposition of molybdenum hexafluoride. In some cases, the deposited molybdenum is an impurity in the intended tungsten hexafluoride. MoF6 can be removed by reduction of a WF6-MoF6 mixture with any of a number of elements including hydrogen iodide at moderately elevated temperature.