Metal atoms preparation

Beams of metal atoms have been prepared by many researchers tlirough thennal vaporization from a heated cmcible. An example of such a source, employed for the generation of beams of alkaline earth atoms, is described by Irvin and Dagdigian [H]. By striking an electrical discharge within this source, beams... 

Graphite reacts with alkali metals, for example potassium, to form compounds which are non-stoichiometric but which all have limiting compositions (for example K C) in these, the alkaU metal atoms are intercalated between the layers of carbon atoms. In the preparation of fluorine by electrolysis of a molten fluoride with graphite electrodes the solid compound (CF) polycarbon fluoride is formed, with fluorine on each carbon atom, causing puckering of the rings. 

The first phosphazene polymers containing carbon (79), sulfur (80,81), and even metal atoms (82) in the backbone have been reported. These were all prepared by the ring-opening polymerization of partially or fully chloro-substituted (or fluoro-substituted) trimers containing one hetero atom substituting for a ring-phosphoms atom in a cyclotriphosphazene-type ring. 

Uranium tetrachloride [10026-10-5], UCl, has been prepared by several methods. The first method, which is probably the best, involves the reduction/chlorination of UO [1344-58-7] with boiling hexachloropropene. The second consists of heating UO2 [1344-57-6] under flowing CCl or SOCI2. The stmcture of the dark green tetrachloride is identical to that of Th, Pa, and Np, which all show a dodecahedral geometry of the chlorine atoms about a central actinide metal atom. The tetrachloride is soluble in H2O, alcohol, and acetic acid, but insoluble in ether, and chloroform. Industrially the tetrachloride has been used as a charge for calutrons. 

The sandwich compounds, feiTocene and nickelocene, FefCg 115)2 and Ni(C5H5)2, so called because die metal atom is sandwiched between the organic radicals, C5H5, have also been used to prepare iron and nickel deposits. 

The term direct TXRF refers to surface impurity analysis with no surface preparation, as described above, achieving detection Umits of 10 °—10 cm for heavy-metal atoms on the silicon surface. The increasit complexity of integrated circuits fabricated from silicon wafers will demand even greater surfrce purity in the future, with accordingly better detection limits in analytical techniques. Detection limits of less than 10 cm can be achieved, for example, for Fe, using a preconcentration technique known as Vapor Phase Decomposition (VPD). 

In some materials, semiconductors in particular, interstitial atoms play a crucial role in diffusion. Thus, Frank and Turnbull (1956) proposed that copper atoms dissolved in germanium are present both substitutionally (together with vacancies) and interstitially, and that the vacancies and interstitial copper atoms diffuse independently. Such diffusion can be very rapid, and this was exploited in preparing the famous micrograph of Figure 3.14 in the preceding chapter. Similarly, it is now recognised that transition metal atoms dissolved in silicon diffuse by a very fast, predominantly interstitial, mechanism (Weber 1988). 

By contrast, ZrCl and ZrBr, also prepared by the high temperature reduction of ZrX4 with the metal, appear to be genuine binaiy halides. They are comprised of hep double layers of metal atoms surrounded by layers of halide ions, leading to metallic conduction in the plane of the layers, and they are thermally more stable than the less reduced phases. Zrl has not been obtained, possibly because of the large size of the iodide ion, and, less surprisingly, attempts to prepare reduced fluorides have been unsuccessful. 

Because of possible catalytic and biological relevance of metal-sulfur clusters, several such compounds of cobalt have been prepared. The action of H2S or M2S (M = alkali metal) on a non-aqueous solution of a convenient cobalt compound (often containing, or in the presence of, a phosphine) is a typical route. Diamagnetic [Co6Ss(PR3)6] (R = Et, Ph) comprise an octahedral array of metal atoms (Co-Co in the range 281.7 to 289.4pm), all faces capped by atoms,and show facile redox behaviour... 

Dioxides are known for all the actinides as far as Cf. They have the fee fluorite structure (p. 118) in which each metal atom has CN = 8 the most common preparative method is ignition of the appropriate oxalate or hydroxide in air. Exceptions are Cm02 and Cf02, which require O2 rather than air, and Pa02 and UO2, which are obtained by reduction of higher oxides. 

The preparation of a phthalonitrile bridged by 1,1,4,4-tetramethylbutylene (1,1,4,4-tetramethyl-6,7-dicyanotetraline) and the preparation of the corresponding phthalocyanines containing a number of metal atoms has also been described.413... 

Alkali-metal phthalocyanines 1 are commonly prepared in situ by the reaction of the appropriate phthalocyanine with lithium in an alcohol like pentan-l-ol. If higher temperatures are required during the synthesis, octan-1-ol with its substantially higher boiling point is used. The reaction mixture is then refluxed with a compound containing the desired metal atom to yield the appropriate metal phthalocyanine 2. 

Metal atoms with a stable oxidation state of + IV are known to form unsubstituted bis(phthalo-cyanines) 9,10. They can be prepared by the reaction of a metal phthalocyanine, or an appropriate metal salt, and an alkali-metal phthalocyanine. 

Alloys are metallic materials prepared by mixing two or more molten metals. They are used for many purposes, such as construction, and are central to the transportation and electronics industries. Some common alloys are listed in Table 5.5. In homogeneous alloys, atoms of the different elements are distributed uniformly. Examples include brass, bronze, and the coinage alloys. Heterogeneous alloys, such as tin-lead solder and the mercury amalgam sometimes used to fill teeth, consist of a mixture of crystalline phases with different compositions. 

The palladium and platinum metals also form carbonyl compounds. Of the expected compounds Pd(CO)4, Pt(CO)4, Ru(CO)5, Os (CO) 5, Mo-(CO)e, and W(CO)6 only Mo(CO)e has been prepared, although some unsaturated ruthenium carbonyls have been prepared. The compounds Pd(CO)2Cl2, Pt(CO)2Cl2, K[PtCOCl3], etc., show the stability of the four dsp2 bonds. It would be interesting to determine whether or not each CO is bonded to two metal atoms in compounds such as [Pt(CO)Cl2]2, whose structure is predicted to be... 

It is in the synthesis of organometallic complexes that the metal-atom technique shows its greatest utility. From metal vapors, many complexes may be synthesized on a macroscale that are difficult, if not impossible, to prepare by standard, wet-chemical techniques (64, 65). In this section, we shall illustrate the vast potential that the method has in this area, although, to be sure, it is evident throughout this entire review. 

As was suggested in the preceding discussion, most of the arene complexes isolated by metal-atom techniques are benzene derivatives. However, heterocyclic ligands are also known to act as 5- or 6-electron donors in transition-metal 7r-complexes (79), and it has proved possible to isolate heterocyclic complexes via the metal-atom route. Bis(2,6-di-methylpyridine)Cr(O) was prepared by cocondensation of Cr atoms with the ligand at 77 K (79). The red-brown product was isolated in only 2% yield the stoichiometry was confirmed by mass spectrometry, and the structure determined by X-ray crystal-structure analysis, which supported a sandwich formulation. 

---