Structural NMR investigation of antimony pentafluoride

Antimony pentafluoride, SbF5, is a very viscous liquid at room temperature whose structural details are not well understood. The distribution and relative abundances of fluorine coordination clusters as a function of temperature are of great interest for the emerging catalyst role of doped SbF5. We have carried out fluorine NMR studies between the vaporization and solidification temperatures of SbF5. Three distinct fluorine coordinations are identified and the changes of their relative abundances are studied as a function of heating and cooling.