Indium( I ) Hexafluoropnictates (InPnF 6 ; Pn = P, As, Sb)

The colourless compounds InPnF 6 (Pn = P, As, Sb), with In I in a solely fluorine environment, were prepared by reacting In metal with PnF 5 (Pn = P) and displacement of the weaker Lewis acid BF 3 from InBF 4 by a stronger one, PnF 5 (Pn = As, Sb), in anhydrous hydrogen fluoride (aHF). The X‐ray powder diffraction analyses show that InPF 6 crystallises in cubic unit cell with a = 8.07(2) Å, while InAsF 6 crystallises in a rhombohedral unit cell with a = 7.58(2) and c = 7.90(1) Å. The Raman spectra of InPnF 6 (Pn = P, As, Sb) confirm the formation of PnF 6 – salts. An attempt to prepare InF and In 2 F 4 (In I In III F 4 ) by reaction of CsF with InSbF 6 in aHF or by metathetical reaction of InSbF 6 with CsInF 4 in aHF, respectively, failed. Instead of InF and In 2 F 4 , respectively, a mixture of In and InF 3 was obtained. (© Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2005)