Calcium fluoride
chemical compound
Calcium fluoride is the inorganic compound of the elements calcium and fluorine with the formula CaF2. It is a white solid that is practically insoluble in water. It occurs as the mineral fluorite (also called fluorspar), which is often deeply coloured owing to impurities.
Chemical structure
The compound crystallizes in a cubic motif called the fluorite structure.
Ca2+ centres are eight-coordinate, being centred in a cube of eight F− centres. Each F− centre is coordinated to four Ca2+ centres in the shape of a tetrahedron. Although perfectly packed crystalline samples are colorless, the mineral is often deeply colored due to the presence of F-centers.
The same crystal structure is found in numerous ionic compounds with formula AB2, such as CeO2, cubic ZrO2, UO2, ThO2, and PuO2. In the corresponding anti-structure, called the antifluorite structure, anions and cations are swapped, such as Be2C.
Gas phase
The gas phase is noteworthy for failing the predictions of VSEPR theory; the CaF2 molecule is not linear like MgF2, but bent with a bond angle of approximately 145°; the strontium and barium dihalides also have a bent geometry. It has been proposed that this is due to the fluoride ligands interacting with the electron core or the d-subshell of the calcium atom.
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