Iridium element

The table above shows the percentages of rhodium and iridium elements in some common sources. David Hudson claims that none of these substances has measurable amounts of monatomic gold, the most important element. 

The element is silvery white with a metallic luster its density is exceeded only by that of platinum, iridium, and osmium, and its melting point is exceeded only by that of tungsten and... 

Iridium is not attacked by any of the acids nor by aqua regia, but is attacked by molten salts, such as NaCl and NaCN. The specific gravity of iridium is only very slightly lower than osmium, which is generally credited as the heaviest known element. Calculations of the densities of iridium and osmium from the space lattices give values of 22.65 and 22.61 g/cm 3, respectively. These values may be more reliable than actual physical measurements. At present, therefore, we know that either iridium or osmium is the densest known element, but the data do not yet allow selection between the two. 

For organometailic compounds, the situation becomes even more complicated because the presence of elements such as platinum, iron, and copper introduces more complex isotopic patterns. In a very general sense, for inorganic chemistry, as atomic number increases, the number of isotopes occurring naturally for any one element can increase considerably. An element of small atomic number, lithium, has only two natural isotopes, but tin has ten, xenon has nine, and mercury has seven isotopes. This general phenomenon should be approached with caution because, for example, yttrium of atomic mass 89 is monoisotopic, and iridium has just two natural isotopes at masses 191 and 193. Nevertheless, the occurrence and variation in patterns of multi-isotopic elements often make their mass spectrometric identification easy, as depicted for the cases of dimethylmercury and dimethylplatinum in Figure 47.4. 

The platinum-group metals (PGMs), which consist of six elements in Groups 8— 10 (VIII) of the Periodic Table, are often found collectively in nature. They are mthenium, Ru rhodium, Rh and palladium, Pd, atomic numbers 44 to 46, and osmium. Os indium, Ir and platinum, Pt, atomic numbers 76 to 78. Corresponding members of each triad have similar properties, eg, palladium and platinum are both ductile metals and form active catalysts. Rhodium and iridium are both characterized by resistance to oxidation and chemical attack (see Platinum-GROUP metals, compounds). 

Subsequentiy, the PGM solution is oxidized and acidified to reconvert Ir(III) to Ir(IV). Tri- -octylamine is again used as the extractant, this time to extract iridium. The iridium ia the organic phase is reduced to Ir(III) and recovered. The remaining element is rhodium, which is recovered from impurities in the original solution by conventional precipitation or ion exchange (qv). 

Selected physical properties of rhenium are summarized ia Table 1. The metal is silvery-white and has a metallic luster. It has a high density (21.02 g/cm ). Only platinum, iridium, and osmium have higher densities. The melting poiat of rhenium is higher than that of all other elements except tungsten (mp 3410°C) and carbon (mp 3550°C). 

Sulfur combines direcdy and usually energetically with almost all of the elements. Exceptions include gold, platinum, iridium, and the hehum-group gases (19). In the presence of oxygen or dry air, sulfur is very slowly oxidized to sulfur dioxide. When burned in air, it forms predominantly sulfur dioxide with small amounts of sulfur trioxide. When burned in the presence of moist air, sulfurous acid and sulfuric acids are slowly generated. 

Platinum, as an alloying element, is used in many dental casting golds (Tables 6 and 7) to improve hardness and elastic qualities. Platinum in combination with palladium and iridium has limited use for dental pins and wires. 

Rhodium and iridium are exceedingly rare elements, comprising only 0.0001 and 0.001 ppm of the earth s crust respectively, and even... 

The metals are lustrous and silvery with, in the case of cobalt, a bluish tinge. Rhodium and iridium are both hard, cobalt less so but still appreciably harder than iron. Rhodium and Ir have fee structures, the first elements in the transition series to do so this is in keeping... 

Table 26.1 Some properties of the elements cobalt, rhodium and iridium...

The effect of the CFSE is expected to be even more marked in the case of the heavier elements because for them the crystal field splittings are much greater. As a result the +3 state is the most important one for both Rh and Ir and [M(H20)6] are the only simple aquo ions formed by these elements. With rr-acceptor ligands the +1 oxidation state is also well known for Rh and Ir. It is noticeable, however, that the similarity of these two heavier elements is less than is the case earlier in the transition series and, although rhodium resembles iridium more than cobalt, nevertheless there are significant differences. One example is provided by the +4 oxidation state which occurs to an appreciable extent in iridium but not in rhodium. (The ease with which Ir, Ir sometimes occurs... 

The corrosion behaviour of amorphous alloys has received particular attention since the extraordinarily high corrosion resistance of amorphous iron-chromium-metalloid alloys was reported. The majority of amorphous ferrous alloys contain large amounts of metalloids. The corrosion rate of amorphous iron-metalloid alloys decreases with the addition of most second metallic elements such as titanium, zirconium, vanadium, niobium, tantalum, chromium, molybdenum, tungsten, cobalt, nickel, copper, ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, iridium and platinum . The addition of chromium is particularly effective. For instance amorphous Fe-8Cr-13P-7C alloy passivates spontaneously even in 2 N HCl at ambient temperature ". (The number denoting the concentration of an alloy element in the amorphous alloy formulae is the atomic percent unless otherwise stated.)... 

Both rhodium (m.p. 1976°C, b.p. 3730°C) and iridium (m.p. 2410°C, b.p. 4130°C) are unreactive silvery metals, iridium being considerably more dense (22.65gem-3) than rhodium (12.41 gem-3), the densest element known apart from osmium. Both form fee (ccp) lattices and, like the other platinum metals, are ductile and malleable. Neither is affected by aqua regia and they only react with oxygen and the halogens at red heat. 

Gmelin Handbook of Inorganic Chemistry, System No. 67, Iridium. Main volume 1939 (Element and Compounds) Supplement Volumes Section 1 The Metal Alloys. 1978 Section 2 Compounds. 1978. 

The most successful class of active ingredient for both oxidation and reduction is that of the noble metals silver, gold, ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, osmium, iridium, and platinum. Platinum and palladium readily oxidize carbon monoxide, all the hydrocarbons except methane, and the partially oxygenated organic compounds such as aldehydes and alcohols. Under reducing conditions, platinum can convert NO to N2 and to NH3. Platinum and palladium are used in small quantities as promoters for less active base metal oxide catalysts. Platinum is also a candidate for simultaneous oxidation and reduction when the oxidant/re-ductant ratio is within 1% of stoichiometry. The other four elements of the platinum family are in short supply. Ruthenium produces the least NH3 concentration in NO reduction in comparison with other catalysts, but it forms volatile toxic oxides. 

A technologically important effect of the lanthanide contraction is the high density of the Period 6 elements (Fig. 16.5). The atomic radii of these elements are comparable to those of the Period 5 elements, but their atomic masses are about twice as large so more mass is packed into the same volume. A block of iridium, for example, contains about as many atoms as a block of rhodium of the same volume. However, each iridium atom is nearly twice as heavy as a rhodium atom, and so the density of the sample is nearly twice as great. In fact, iridium is one of the two densest elements its neighbor osmium is the other. Another effect of the contraction is the low reactivity—the nobility —of gold and platinum. Because their valence electrons are relatively close to the nucleus, they are tightly bound and not readily available for chemical reactions. 

Identify the element with the larger atomic radius in each of the following pairs (a) vanadium and titanium (b) silver and gold (c) vanadium and tantalum (d) rhodium and iridium. 

Pauling, L. Evidence from Bond Lengths and Bond Angles for Enneacovalence of Cobalt, Rhodium, Iridium, Iron, Ruthenium, and Osmium in Compounds with Elements of Medium Electronegativity Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (USA) 1984, 81, 1918-1921. 

Iridium i s the most corrosion and oxidation resi stant metal and the densest element after osmium. It i s hard and brittle and as such it i s difficult to machine or form. Thi s limitati on has spurred the devel opment of vapor deposition. 

Iridium, the heaviest element of the cobalt group, was found to display the least tendency towards cluster formation at 10-12 K (49), which, as already mentioned, was quite facile for Co and Rh (49). Considering the plethora of sharp, well-defined, atomic-resonance lines observed for Ir (see Fig. 6) compared to those of Co and Rh, the remarkably impressive correlation with the representation of the gas-... 

The most interesting work on the isocyanide complexes of the elements in this subgroup has been done with rhodium and iridium. For the most part, the work is involved with the oxidative addition reactions of d square-planar metal complexes. 

A few of the transition metals, including gold, platinum, and iridium, are found in nature as pure elements, but most of the others are found associated with either sulfur or oxygen. Iron, manganese, and the metals of Groups 3 to 6 (except for Mo) are most often found as oxides less often, they occur as sulfates or carbonates. Molybdenum and the metals of Groups 7 to 12 (e.xcept forMn and Fe) are most often found as sulfides. 

Mossbauer spectroscopy is a specialist characterization tool in catalysis. Nevertheless, it has yielded essential information on a number of important catalysts, such as the iron catalyst for ammonia and Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, as well as the CoMoS hydrotreating catalyst. Mossbauer spectroscopy provides the oxidation state, the internal magnetic field, and the lattice symmetry of a limited number of elements such as iron, cobalt, tin, iridium, ruthenium, antimony, platinum and gold, and can be applied in situ. 

---