Chlorine trifluoride

Chlorine trifluoride (ClF₃) is a volatile, highly reactive interhalogen compound used mainly as an industrial fluorinating agent and oxidizer.

Molecular geometry: The three-dimensional arrangement of atoms in a molecule. ClF₃ has a T-shaped geometry set by three bonds and two lone electron pairs.
Uranium hexafluoride: A volatile uranium compound used to process uranium for isotope separation. ClF₃ can fluorinate uranium compounds to form this volatile processing intermediate.
Otto Ruff: A German chemist known for pioneering research on fluorine and inorganic fluorine compounds. Ruff and colleagues reported chlorine trifluoride in the early twentieth century.
Chemical safety: Practices and systems for preventing harm during the handling, storage, and use of chemicals. ClF₃ demands specialized controls because exposure and loss of containment can be catastrophic.
Valence shell electron pair repulsion theory: A model that predicts molecular shapes from repulsions among regions of electron density around a central atom. It accounts for the T-shaped arrangement of chlorine trifluoride.
Uranium enrichment: The industrial increase of the proportion of uranium-235 in uranium. ClF₃ has been used in fluorination steps associated with uranium processing.
Fluorine chemistry: The chemistry of elemental fluorine and compounds containing fluorine. ClF₃ emerged from efforts to characterize reactive fluorine compounds.
Corrosion: The deterioration of a material through chemical or electrochemical reaction with its surroundings. ClF₃ attacks many materials that ordinarily serve as chemical containers.
Interhalogen compounds: Covalent compounds formed from atoms of two or more different halogens. ClF₃ belongs to this family of compounds.
Chemical vapor deposition: A process that forms solid films by chemical reactions of vapor-phase precursors on a surface. ClF₃ can clean deposits from chemical vapor deposition equipment.

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