Why is the oxidation state of noble gas zero?

1 Answer
Nov 27, 2014

The oxidation state of a noble gas is not always zero.

The high electronegativity values of oxygen and fluorine led to research in the formation of possible compounds involving group 18 elements.

Here are some examples:

For the +2 state: KrF_2KrF2 , XeF_2XeF2 , RnF_2RnF2

For the +4 state: XeF_4XeF4, XeOF_2XeOF2

For the +6 state XeF_6XeF6, XeO_3XeO3, XeOF_4XeOF4

For the +8 state XeO_4XeO4

You might think that these compounds violate the so - called "octet rule" which is true .

A rule is not a "law" in that it is not applicable in all cases. There are many more cases where the octet rule does not apply.

For this reason the name of the group 18 elements was changed from the "Inert Gases" to the "Noble Gases" to reflect the fact that they can exhibit non - zero oxidation states.