2LiF
2LiF commonly denotes the diatomic or dimer form of lithium fluoride, written as (LiF)2. In chemical literature it is discussed mainly in the context of gas-phase clusters and theoretical studies rather than as a bulk material. Lithium fluoride itself is a widely used ionic compound with a high melting point and strong lattice energy; in the dimer, each LiF unit remains as a discrete ion pair, while the interaction between the two units is comparatively weak.
In the (LiF)2 dimer, the Li–F bonds inside each unit retain the characteristics of the LiF monomer,
Preparation and detection of (LiF)2 are typically conducted in gas-phase experiments or through matrix isolation techniques.
Although (LiF)2 has no direct industrial application, it serves as a useful model system in cluster chemistry
See also: LiF, fluoride clusters, van der Waals clusters, cluster chemistry.