 Xenon and the other noble gases were for a long time considered to be completely chemically inert and not able to form compounds . However , while teaching at the University of British Columbia , Neil Bartlett discovered that the gas platinum hexafluoride ( PtF6 ) was a powerful oxidizing agent that could <unk> oxygen gas ( O2 ) to form <unk> hexafluoroplatinate ( O2 + [ PtF6 ] − ) . Since O2 and xenon have almost the same first ionization potential , Bartlett realized that platinum hexafluoride might also be able to <unk> xenon . On March 23 , 1962 , he mixed the two gases and produced the first known compound of a noble gas , xenon hexafluoroplatinate . Bartlett thought its composition to be Xe + [ PtF6 ] − , although later work has revealed that it was probably a mixture of various xenon @-@ containing salts . Since then , many other xenon compounds have been discovered , along with some compounds of the noble gases argon , krypton , and <unk> , including argon <unk> ( <unk> ) , krypton difluoride ( <unk> ) , and <unk> fluoride . By 1971 , more than 80 xenon compounds were known . 
