What is the geometry of IF_7?

1 Answer
Jul 17, 2017

This is a pentagonal bipyramidal.......with D_(5h) symmetry.

Explanation:

The interhalogen follows the normal application of "VESPER", "valence shell electron pair repulsion theory". The central atom, which is almost always the least electronegative atom......is iodine.

The most stable electronic arrangement to accommodate 7 bonding electron pairs is as a pentagonal bipyramid as shown.....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iodine_heptafluoride

Now such a geometry is conformationally mobile, and while I have never done the experiment, in the ""^(19)F{""^1H} "NMR spectrum" at room temperature, we would probably see the one signal due to exchange between the axial and equatorial fluorines in a mechanism similar to Berry pseudorotation observed for PF_5.... And should the temperature be lowered to below a certain temperature, we would see the absorption decoalesce to give 2 signals in a 2:5 ratio (in a triplet and a sextet), the one representing the axial fluorine nuclei, and the other representing the fluorine atoms in the plane.