XeF2 as a ligand to a metal center, an interesting field of noble gas chemistry

•Short review of compounds with XeF2 as ligand to metal center.•Structural diversity of XeF2 coordination chemistry was elucidated.•New XeF2 coordination compounds with mercury as metal center were characterized.

This paper presents a brief overview of the coordination chemistry with XeF2 as a ligand to metal centers. A systematic review of the compounds according to their oxidation state is given. Compounds with the metal in the oxidation state II represent the largest group with the highest structural variety and therefore a comparison of compounds with a similar ionic radius is presented. Single-crystal data of recently prepared mercury compounds with the composition [Hg(XeF2)5](AF6)2 (A = P, As, Sb) are included. All three compounds are structurally related with bridging XeF2 molecules connecting the mercury atoms into chains.

Graphical abstractKnown metal centers that form coordination compounds with XeF2.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide