Ammonia reaction with beryllium

Diethylberyllium ignites spontaneously in air, producing dense white fumes of beryllium oxide. Ether solution of this compound is also highly flammable, igniting spontaneously in air. It reacts explosively with water. Reactions with lower alcohols, halogens, halogenated hydrocarbons, ammonia, and oxidizers may proceed to explosive violence. 

The homopolymer, prepared by polymerization in liquid ammonia with sodium initiator at-77 °C, is insoluble in acetone, but it is soluble in dimethylformamide. When it is formed with lithium in liquid ammonia, at -75 °C, the molecular weight of the product increases with monomer concentration and decreases with initiator concentration. If, however, potassium initiates the reaction rather than lithium, the molecular weight is independent of the monomer concentration. " " Polymethaciylonitrile prepared with n-butyllithium in toluene or in dioxane is crystalline and insoluble in solvents like acetone. When polymerized in petroleum ether with /i-butyllithium, methacrylonitrile forms a living polymer. Highly crystalline polymethacrylonitrile can also be prepared with beryllium and magnesium alkyls in toluene over a wide range of temperatures. 

After cooling, the glassy solid beryllium fluoride has an ammonia content of only 0 001 per cent and a beryllium content of about 0-2 to 0 6 per cent. It is crushed to pass a in. screen, ready for reaction with magnesium. The magnesium is provided in the form of small raspings . 

Beryllium Nitride. BeryUium nitride [1304-54-7], Be N2, is prepared by the reaction of metaUic beryUium and ammonia gas at 1100°C. It is a white crystalline material melting at 2200°C with decomposition. The sublimation rate becomes appreciable in a vacuum at 2000°C. Be2N2 is rapidly oxidized by air at 600°C and like the carbide is hydrolyzed by moisture. The oxide forms on beryllium metal in air at elevated temperatures, but in the absence of oxygen, beryllium reacts with nitrogen to form the nitride. When hot pressing mixtures of beryUium nitride and sUicon nitride, Si N, at 1700°C, beryllium sUicon nitride [12265-44-0], BeSiN2, is obtained. BeSiN2 may have appHcation as a ceramic material. 

Although the entire discussion of electrochemistry thus far has been in terms of aqueous solutions, the same principles apply equaly well to nonaqueous solvents. As a result of differences in solvation energies, electrode potentials may vary considerably from those found in aqueous solution. In addition the oxidation and reduction potentials characteristic of the solvent vary with the chemical behavior of the solvent. as a result of these two effects, it is often possible to carry out reactions in a nonaqueous solvent that would be impossible in water. For example, both sodium and beryllium are too reactive to be electroplated from aqueous solution, but beryllium can be electroplated from liquid ammonia and sodium from solutions in pyridine. 0 Unfortunately, the thermodynamic data necessary to construct complete tables of standard potential values are lacking for most solvents other than water. Jolly 1 has compiled such a table for liquid ammonia. The hydrogen electrode is used as the reference point to establish the scale as in water ... 

A structural study of potassium and rubidium amidoberyllates, prepared in a reaction between a solution of potassium or rubidium in liquid ammonia with metallic beryllium, reveals that the compounds belong to the space group Pbca, with a = 12.88, 6 = 11.21, c = 13.19 A for KBe(NH2) and a = 12.96, 6 = 11.55, and c = 13.48 A for RbBe(NH2)3. The structures are composed of trigonal groups of [Be(NH2)3] and M " ions. I.r. and Raman spectral data arc also available. ... 

---