Q4 · CSIR-NET Chemistry, June 2011

Paper: CSIR-NET June 2011 · Subject: Inorganic Chemistry · Chapter: Lanthanides and Actinides · Topic: Lanthanides & Actinides – General · Marks: 2 · Difficulty: Easy

Uranium fluorides co-precipitate with
(a)$\mathrm{CaF}_{2}$
(b)$\mathrm{AgF}$
(c)$\mathrm{LiF}$
(d)$\mathrm{MgF}_{2}$
Answer
Answer: A ✓ checked by 4AB · confidence medium

Key A unchanged; displayed explanation described an unrelated fluorite-structure question and did not address co-precipitation.

Explanation
U(IV) fluoride (UF₄) is insoluble and is carried down with an insoluble fluoride of a cation of similar size and charge type. Ca²⁺ (≈112 pm, CN 8) is close in size to U⁴⁺ (≈100 pm), and CaF₂ has the fluorite lattice that actinide(IV) compounds adopt (UO₂, ThO₂), so uranium fluorides co-precipitate with CaF₂.
AgF is very soluble, and LiF and MgF₂ have small cations in rock-salt/rutile lattices, so they do not carry uranium. Answer: (a) CaF₂.

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