Oxidation states halides

Metals in higher oxidation states form halides which are essentially covalent, for example AICI3, SnCl, FeClj when these compounds dissolve in water they do so by a strongly exothermic process. Indeed it is perhaps incorrect to think of this only as a dissolution process, since it is more like a chemical reaction—but to differentiate for a particular substance is not easy, as we shall see. The steps involved in the case of aluminium chloride can be represented as... 

Anhydrous halides, however, are obtained when the metal is heated with the dry hydrogen halide or the halogen. In the case of elements with more than one oxidation state, the hydrogen halide produces a lower halide and the halogen a higher halide, for example... 

Halides of non-metals are usually prepared by the direct combination of the elements. If the element exhibits more than one oxidation state, excess of the halogen favours the formation of the higher halide whilst excess of the element favours the formation of the lower halide (e.g. PCI5 and PCI3). 

When an element has more than one oxidation state the lower halides tend to be ionic whilst the higher ones are covalent—the anhydrous chlorides of lead are a good example, for whilst leadfll) chloride, PbCl2, is a white non-volatile solid, soluble in water without hydrolysis, leadflV) chloride, PbC, is a liquid at room temperature (p. 200) and is immediately hydrolysed. This change of bonding with oxidation state follows from the rules given on p.49... 

As already noted, the simple salts in this oxidation state are powerful oxidising agents and oxidise water. Since, also, Co(III) would oxidise any halide except fluoride to halogen, the only simple halide salt is C0F3. Cobalt(lll) Jluoride, obtained by reaction of fluorine with cobalt(II) fluoride it is a useful fluorinating agent. 

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-... 

The many possible oxidation states of the actinides up to americium make the chemistry of their compounds rather extensive and complicated. Taking plutonium as an example, it exhibits oxidation states of -E 3, -E 4, +5 and -E 6, four being the most stable oxidation state. These states are all known in solution, for example Pu" as Pu ", and Pu as PuOj. PuOl" is analogous to UO , which is the stable uranium ion in solution. Each oxidation state is characterised by a different colour, for example PuOj is pink, but change of oxidation state and disproportionation can occur very readily between the various states. The chemistry in solution is also complicated by the ease of complex formation. However, plutonium can also form compounds such as oxides, carbides, nitrides and anhydrous halides which do not involve reactions in solution. Hence for example, it forms a violet fluoride, PuFj. and a brown fluoride. Pup4 a monoxide, PuO (probably an interstitial compound), and a stable dioxide, PUO2. The dioxide was the first compound of an artificial element to be separated in a weighable amount and the first to be identified by X-ray diffraction methods. 

Phosphoms shows a range of oxidation states from —3 to +5 by virtue of its electronic configuration. Elemental P is oxidized easily by nonmetals such as oxygen, sulfur, and halides to form compounds such as 2 5 2 5 reduced upon reaction with metals to generate phosphides. The... 

Rhenium Halides and Halide Complexes. Rhenium reacts with chlorine at ca 600°C to produce rheniumpentachloride [39368-69-9], Re2Cl2Q, a volatile species that is dimeric via bridging hahde groups. Rhenium reacts with elemental bromine in a similar fashion, but the metal is unreactive toward iodine. The compounds ReCl, ReBr [36753-03-4], and Rel [59301-47-2] can be prepared by careful evaporation of a solution of HReO and HX. Substantiation in a modem laboratory would be desirable. Lower oxidation state hahdes (Re X ) are also prepared from the pentavalent or tetravalent compounds by thermal decomposition or chemical reduction. 

Ghromium(IV) and Ghromium(V) Gompounds. The formal oxidation states Cr(IV) and Cr(V) show some similarities. Both states are apparentiy intermediates in the reduction of Cr(VI) to Cr(III). Neither state exhibits a compound that has been isolated from aqueous media, and Cr(V) has only a transient existence in water (55). The majority of the stable compounds of both oxidation states contain either a halide, an oxide, or a mixture of these two. As of this writing, knowledge of the chemistry is limited. 

A chain mechanism is proposed for this reaction. The first step is oxidation of a carboxylate ion coordinated to Pb(IV), with formation of alkyl radical, carbon dioxide, and Pb(III). The alkyl radical then abstracts halogen from a Pb(IV) complex, generating a Pb(IIl) species that decomposes to Pb(II) and an alkyl radical. This alkyl radical can continue the chain process. The step involving abstraction of halide from a complex with a change in metal-ion oxidation state is a ligand-transfer type reaction. 

When the desired halide is hydrolytically unstable then dry methods must be used, often at elevated temperatures. Pre-eminent amongst these methods is the oxidative halogenation of metals (or non-metals) with X2 or HX when more than one oxidation state is available X2 sometimes gives the higher and HX the lower, e.g. ... 

Another example of a divalent metal of this group, but which in fact is probably entirely analogous to the dihydiides, is LaL. However, the most extensive set of examples of these metals in low formal oxidation states is provided by the binary and ternary halides produced by... 

Lower oxidation states are rather sparsely represented for Zr and Hf. Even for Ti they are readily oxidized to +4 but they are undoubtedly well defined and, whatever arguments may be advanced against applying the description to Sc, there is no doubt that Ti is a transition metal . In aqueous solution Ti can be prepared by reduction of Ti, either with Zn and dilute acid or electrolytically, and it exists in dilute acids as the violet, octahedral [Ti(H20)6] + ion (p. 970). Although this is subject to a certain amount of hydrolysis, normal salts such as halides and sulfates can be separated. Zr and are known mainly as the trihalides or their derivatives and have no aqueous chemistry since they reduce water. Table 21.2 (p. 960) gives the oxidation states and stereochemistries found in the complexes of Ti, Zr and Hf along with illustrative examples. (See also pp. 1281-2.)... 

Apart from TiO and the lower halides already mentioned, the chemistry of these metals in oxidation states lower than 3 is not well established. Addition compounds of the type [TiCl2L2] can be formed with difficulty with ligands such as dimethylformamide and acetonitrile, but their magnetic properties suggest that they also are polymeric with appreciable metal-metal bonding. However, the electronic spectra of Ti in TiCl2/AlCl3 melts and also of Ti incorporated in NaCl crystals (prepared by... 

---