Question

Searching on the internet for a really powerful acid, I came across a species called helium hydride ion which is estimated to have a pKa

of −63,
making it orders of magnitude more acidic than fluoroantimonic acid, which has a pKa
of −31.

I heard that teflon is the only way to store fluoroantimonic acid. Due to its strong carbon-fluorine bonds, teflon is capable of tolerating the acidity of this superacid.

Now, teflon may be strong enough to store fluoroantimonic acid, but is teflon capable of storing the helium hydride ion, given that it is capable of protonating O2,H2O,CO2,NH3,SO2
and so on? And how do you determine or predict that (via which process)?.

Answer 1

Teflon can store fluoroantimonic acid due to its strong carbon-fluorine bonds, but its ability to store the helium hydride ion is uncertain and would require further analysis.

Step-by-step explanation:

Teflon, which has strong carbon-fluorine bonds, can indeed store fluoroantimonic acid. This is because the carbon-fluorine bond is stronger than the silicon-fluorine bond, allowing teflon to tolerate the acidity of fluoroantimonic acid. However, teflon may not be capable of storing the helium hydride ion.

The helium hydride ion has the formula HeH+ and is a positively charged ion formed by the reaction of a proton with a helium atom. It is the strongest known acid, but teflon's ability to store it would depend on the specific chemical behavior and interaction of the ion with teflon.

To determine or predict if teflon can store the helium hydride ion, experimental studies and chemical analysis would be required to evaluate the stability of the ion in contact with teflon. Predicting this solely based on the ion's ability to protonate other compounds like O2, H2O, CO2, NH3, and SO2 is not sufficient.