Behavior of ruthenium in fluoride-volatility processes

RuOF4, RuF5 and RuF4 are convertible almost completely into RuO4 at room temperature by the repetitions of the operation consisting of their hydrolysis and the subsequent treatment of the hydrolysis products with F2. This is because their hydrolysis products, a large portion of which is in the form of ruthenium hydroxides, are dehydrogenated by F2 at room temperature to produce RuO4. Since the hydrolysis products dehydrate progressively on heating, these conversions are achieved most effectively at room temperature. Mass spectrometry, IR analysis, and thermal analysis were applied to confirm these processes. (author)