Hydrides, Halides and Oxohalides

As with the fullerenes, further detailed studies will depend on the discovery of viable bulk preparations of the met-cars. Macroscopic 

The ability of C to catenate (i.e. to form bonds to itself in compounds) is nowhere better illustrated than in the compounds it forms with H. Hydrocarbons occur in great variety in petroleum deposits and elsewhere, and form various homologous series in which the C atoms are linked into chains, branched chains and rings. The study of these compounds and their derivatives forms the subject of organic chemistry and is fully discussed in the many textbooks and treatises on that subject. The matter is further considered on p. 374 in relation to the much smaller ability of other Group 14 elements to form such catenated compounds. Methane, CH4, is the archetype of tetrahedral coordination in molecular compounds some of its properties are listed in Table 8.4 where they are compared with those of the 

Methane is unique among hydrocarbons in being thermodynamically stable with respect to its elements. It follows that pyrolytic reactions to convert it to other hydrocarbons are energetically unfavourable and will be strongly equilibrium-limited. This is in marked contrast to the boranes where mild thermolysis of B2H6 or B4H10, for example, readily yields mixtures of the higher boranes (p. 164). Vast natural reserves of CH4 gas exist but much is wasted 

Notable recent advances in the chemistry of hydrocarbons include the synthesis and 

Irngartinger, A. Goldmann, R. Jahn, M. Nixdorf, H. Rodewald, G. Maier, K.-D. Malsch and R. Emrich, Angew. Chem. Int. Edn. Engl. 23, 993-4 (1984). 

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