The formation of O2+PtF6− is the basis for the formation of xenon fluorides. This is because:

In March 1962, Neil Bartlett, then at the University of British Columbia, observed the reaction of a noble gas. First, he prepared a red compound which is formulated as O2+PtF6− and it is already know that the first ionisation enthalpy of molecular oxygen (1175 kJ mol-1) is almost similar with that xenon (1170 kJ mol-1). Then he made efforts to prepare same type of compound by mixing Pt F6 and Xenon Xe+PtF6+. After this discovery, a number of xenon compounds mainly with most electronegative elements like fluorine and oxygen, have been synthesised.