Abstract
THE issue of NATURE of Nov. 5, p. 672, contains the news of a very important discovery made by Messrs. P. Lebeau and A. Damiens and communicated to the Paris Academy of Sciences on Oct. 3 (see Comptes rendus, pp. 652-654, 1927). In the preparationof fluorine by the electrolysis of the acid potassium fluoride, it was noticed that at the commencement of the operation, owing to the presence in the liquid of a small quantity of water, a new gas was obtained of which the formula has been established as F2O, probably a monoxide of fluorine. In my view the new gas is not a monoxide of fluorine, F2O, but a difluoride of oxygen, OF2. The two formuhe are by no means identical, and it is interesting to note that a famous investigator like Prof. Lebcau has overlooked the true state of the matter, for he says that it is OF2 (i.e. our F2O, but he places the negative element first !) “paraissant être plutôt un oxyde quun anhydride.”
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BRAUNER, B. Oxide of Fluorine or Fluoride of Oxygen?. Nature 120, 842 (1927). https://doi.org/10.1038/120842a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/120842a0
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