Question

What is the geometry of the interhalogen, `IF_7`?

Answer 1

Well, we could predict its structure by VESPER........

Explanation:

We have `56*e` to distribute over 8 centres.......and thus 28 electron pairs. A pentagonal bipyramid is specified with a CENTRAL 7-coordinate iodine atom (why is the iodine central? well, because it is the least electronegative element.)

From the wiki link......

This is not something I would like to handle.

And how would you prove the structure? This is not a straightforward proposition: x-ray crystallography; solution NMR by `""^19F` NMR spectroscopy, which should show 2 fluorine environments at low temperature........As to its polarity, I presume that it would go up in non-polar solvents.