Rhodium trifluoride

Rhodium(III) fluoride or rhodium trifluoride is the inorganic compound with the formula RhF3. It is a red-brown, diamagnetic solid.

Synthesis and structure
The compound is prepared by fluorination of rhodium trichloride:


 * 2 RhCl3 + 3 F2 →   2 RhF3  +  3 Cl2

It can also be obtained by direct combination of the elements:


 * 2 Rh + 3 F2 -> 2 RhF3

Anhydrous RhF3 is insoluble in water and does not react with it, but the hydrates RhF3*6H2O and RhF3*9H2O can be prepared by adding hydrofluoric acid to aqueous rhodium(III) solutions.

According to X-ray crystallography, the compound adopts the same structure as vanadium trifluoride, wherein the metal achieves octahedral coordination geometry.