Sulfur hexafluoride Sulfur hexafluoride Sulfur hexafluoride (SF) is an inorganic, colorless, odorless, non-flammable, extremely potent greenhouse gas, and an excellent electrical insulator. has an octahedral geometry, consisting of six fluorine atoms attached to a central sulfur atom. It is a hypervalent molecule. Typical for a nonpolar gas, it is poorly soluble in water but quite soluble in nonpolar organic solvents. It is generally transported as a liquefied compressed gas. It has a density of 6.12 g/L at sea level conditions, considerably higher than the density of air (1.225 g/L). can be prepared from the elements through exposure of to . This was
Sulfur hexafluoride also the method used by the discoverers Henri Moissan and Paul Lebeau in 1901. Some other sulfur fluorides are cogenerated, but these are removed by heating the mixture to disproportionate any (which is highly toxic) and then scrubbing the product with NaOH to destroy remaining . Alternatively, utilizing bromine, sulfur hexafluoride can be synthesized from SF and CoF at lower temperatures (e.g. 100 °C), as follows: There is virtually no reaction chemistry for . A main contribution to the inertness of SF is the steric hindrance of the sulfur atom, whereas its heavier group 16 counterparts, such as SeF are