Xenon dioxide


Xenon dioxide, or xenon oxide, is a compound of xenon and oxygen with formula XeO2, which was synthesized in 2011. It is synthesized at 0 °C by hydrolysis of xenon tetrafluoride.

Structure

has an extended structure in which xenon and oxygen have coordination numbers of four and two respectively. The geometry at xenon is square planar, consistent with VSEPR theory for four ligands and two lone pairs.
In addition, the existence of an XeO2 molecule was predicted by an ab initio quantum chemistry method several years earlier by Pyykkö and Tamm, but these authors did not consider an extended structure.

Properties

is a yellow-orange solid. It is an unstable compound, with a half-life of about two minutes, disproportionating into xenon trioxide| and xenon gas. Its structure and identity was confirmed by cooling it to −78 °C so that Raman spectroscopy could be performed before it decomposed.