Amphoteric, 6.38

The usual acceptor and donor dopants for Al Ga As compounds are elements from groups II, IV and VI of the periodic table. Group II elements are acceptors and group VI elements are donors. Depending on the growth conditions. Si and Ge can be either donors or acceptor, i.e. amphoteric. This is of special interest in LEDs. 

Basic properties of product Be(OH)2 amphoteric MgO insoluble slightly MjOH), soluble... 

Amorphous boron and the amphoteric elements, aluminium and gallium, are attacked by aqueous solutions of sodium hydroxide and... 

The more metallic elements, indium and thallium, do not react in spite of the fact that In(OH)3 is amphoteric. 

In this group the outer quantum level has a full s level and two electrons in the corresponding p level. As the size of the atom increases the ionisation energy changes (see Table 8.1) and these changes are reflected in the gradual change from a typical non-metallic element, carbon, to the weakly metallic element, lead. Hence the oxides of carbon and silicon are acidic whilst those of tin and lead are amphoteric. 

All Group IV elements form both a monoxide, MO, and a dioxide, MO2. The stability of the monoxide increases with atomic weight of the Group IV elements from silicon to lead, and lead(II) oxide, PbO, is the most stable oxide of lead. The monoxide becomes more basic as the atomic mass of the Group IV elements increases, but no oxide in this Group is truly basic and even lead(II) oxide is amphoteric. Carbon monoxide has unusual properties and emphasises the different properties of the group head element and its compounds. 

It is amphoteric it gives tin(II) salts with dilute acids and hydroxo stannates(II) with alkalis, for example ... 

Lead(II) oxide is the most basic oxide formed by a Group IV element. It dissolves easily in acids to give lead(II) salts but it also dissolves slowly in alkalis to give hydroxoplumbates(II) and must, therefore, be classed as an amphoteric oxide, for example ... 

Lead dioxide is slightly soluble in concentrated nitric acid and concentrated sulphuric acid, and it dissolves in fused alkalis. It therefore has amphoteric properties, although these are not well characteri.sed since it is relatively inert. 

Nitrogen is unusual in forming so many oxides. The acidity of the Group V oxides falls from phosphorus, whose oxides are acidic, through arsenic and antimony whose oxides are amphoteric, to the basic oxide ofbismuth. This change is in accordance with the change from the non-metallic element, phosphorus, to the essentially metallic element, bismuth. The +5 oxides are found, in each case, to be more acidic than the corresponding + 3 oxides. 

Arsenic(IH) acid is an extremely weak acid in fact, the oxide is amphoteric, since the following equilibria occur ... 

Antimony forms both a + 3 and a + 5 oxide. The + 3 oxide can be prepared by the direct combination of the elements or by the action of moderately concentrated nitric acid on antimony. It is an amphoteric oxide dissolving in alkalis to give antimonates(III) (for example sodium antimonite , NaSb02), and in some acids to form salts, for example with concentrated hydrochloric acid the trichloride, SbCl3, is formed. 

Unlike the amphoteric -i-3 oxide, the -i-5 oxide is acidic and dissolves only in alkalis to give hydroxoantimonates which contain the ion [SbfOH) ] . A third oxide, Sb204, is known but contains both antimony(III) and antimony(V), Sb (Sb 04), cf. Pb,04. 

Notice that the acidic character is associated with the ability of aluminium to increase its covalency from three in the oxide to six in the hydroxoaluminate ion, [Al(OH)g] the same abihty to increase covalency is found in other metals whose oxides are amphoteric, for example... 

Scandium is not an uncommon element, but is difficult to extract. The only oxidation state in its compounds is -I- 3, where it has formally lost the 3d 4s electrons, and it shows virtually no transition characteristics. In fact, its chemistry is very similar to that of aluminium (for example hydrous oxide SC2O3, amphoteric forms a complex [ScFg] chloride SCCI3 hydrolysed by water). 

Titanium tetrachloride is hydrolysed by water, to give a mixture of anions, for example [Ti(OH)Cl5]" and [TiClg] , together with some hydrated titanium dioxide (Ti02.4H2O is one possible hydrate, being equivalent to [Ti(0H)4(H20)2]). This suggests that titanium dioxide is amphoteric (see below). 

It shows some amphoteric behaviour, since it dissolves in alkali (concentrated aqueous or fused) to give a ferrate(lll) the equation may be written as... 

It is readily dehydrated on warming, to give the black oxide CuO. It dissolves in excess of concentrated alkali to form blue hydroxo-cuprate(II) ions, of variable composition it is therefore slightly amphoteric. If aqueous ammonia is used to precipitate the hydroxide, the latter dissolves in excess ammonia to give the deep blue ammino complexes, for example [Cu(NH3)4(H20)2] ... 

In its chemistry, cadmium exhibits exclusively the oxidation state + 2 in both ionic and covalent compounds. The hydroxide is soluble in acids to give cadmium(II) salts, and slightly soluble in concentrated alkali where hydroxocadmiates are probably formed it is therefore slightly amphoteric. It is also soluble in ammonia to give ammines, for example Of the halides, cadmium-... 

A major difficulty in an inorganic text is to strike a balance between a short readable book and a longer, more detailed text which can be used for reference purposes. In reaching what we hope is a reasonable compromise between these two extremes, we acknowledge that both the historical background and industrial processes have been treated very concisely. We must also say that we have not hesitated to simplify complicated reactions or other phenomena—thus, for example, the treatment of amphoterism as a pH-dependent sequence between a simple aquo-cation and a simple hydroxo-anion neglects the presence of more complicated species but enables the phenomena to be adequately understood at this level. 

Since hydroxylamine is usually available only in the form of its salts, e.g., the hydrochloride or sulphate, the aqueous solution of these salts is treated with sodium acetate or hydroxide to liberate the base before treatment with the aldehyde or ketone. Most oximes are weakly amphoteric in character, and may dissolve in aqueous sodium hydroxide as the sodium salt, from which they can be liberated by the addition of a weak acid, e.g., acetic acid. 

Acid amides have weakly amphoteric properties, and thus give salts such as CjHsCONHj.HCl with strong acids, and salts of the type C HsCONHNa with strong bases. These compounds have to be prepared at low temperatures to avoid hydrolysis, and are difficult to isolate. The mercury derivatives can, however, usually be readily prepared, because mercuric oxide is too feebly basic to cause hydrolysis of the amide, and the heavy mercuric derivatives crystallise well. 

Arylarsonic acids have usually a very low solubility in cold water. They are however amphoteric, since with, for example, sodium hydroxide they form sodium salts as above and with acids such as hydrochloric acid they form salts of the type [CaHjAsCOHljlCl. Both types of salt are usually soluble in water, and to isolate the free acid the aqueous solution has to be brought to the correct pH for most arsonic acids this can be achieved by niaking the solution only just acid to Congo Red, when the free acid will usually rapidly separate. 

Acid amides possess weakly amphoteric properties salts such as C,HgCONH3,HCl and C.HgCONHNa... 

As already noted by Sprague and Land (46), no accurate data are available for 2-thiazolecarboxylic acid, but it appears to be a considerably stronger acid than either 4- or 5-thiazolecarboxylic acid (7). It is difficult to study experimentally the acidity of these compounds because of their amphoteric character. 

Glycine as well as other ammo acids is amphoteric meaning it contains an acidic... 

Most metals will precipitate as the hydroxide in the presence of concentrated NaOH. Metals forming amphoteric hydroxides, however, remain soluble in concentrated NaOH due to the formation of higher-order hydroxo-complexes. For example, Zn and AP will not precipitate in concentrated NaOH due to the formation of Zn(OH)3 and Al(OH)4. The solubility of AP in concentrated NaOH is used to isolate aluminum from impure bauxite, an ore of AI2O3. The ore is powdered and placed in a solution of concentrated NaOH where the AI2O3 dissolves to form A1(0H)4T Other oxides that may be present in the ore, such as Fe203 and Si02, remain insoluble. After filtering, the filtrate is acidified to recover the aluminum as a precipitate of Al(OH)3. 

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