Molten salts group 2 halides

The main consensus seems to be that the first major studies of room temperature molten salts were made in the 1940s by a group led by Frank Hurley and Tom Weir at Rice University. When they mixed and gently warmed powdered pyridinium halides with aluminum chloride, the powders reacted, giving a clear, colorless liquid [4-7]. These mixtures were meant to be used in electrochemistry, particularly in electroplahng with aluminum. 

Table 1. Metal-molten salt systems in which solid, sub-valent compounds with metal-metal bonds have been synthesized by symproportionation or similar reactions. The many sub-halides of gallium and indium have been omitted. These compounds contain either sub-valent monoatomic cations e.Lj. (Ga )(GaCl4 )l > and (In )(Cl )] " and/or ligand-stabilized metal-metal bonded anions (Ga+)2(Ga2X6- ), X = Br, For a review of the sub-valent chemistry of the group...

This section deals principally with binary derivatives of the alkali metals ternary compounds are omitted since they are considered, as appropriate, either elsewhere in this Report or in that covering the inorganic chemistry of the transition metals. Included here are subdivisions relating to hydrides, oxides and related species, and halides. Compounds of Group IV and V non-metals are not discussed because of the paucity of data. A separate section, entitled Molten Salts , dealing with the chemistry of molten halides (and nitrates) as solvents, is also included. 

Cadmium is a member of Group 12 (Zn, Cd, Hg) of the Periodic Table, having a filled d shell of electrons 4valence state of +2. In rare instances the +1 oxidation state may be produced in the form of dimeric Cd2+2 species [59458-73-0], eg, as dark red melts of Cd° dissolved in molten cadmium halides or as diamagnetic yellow solids such as (Cd2)2+ (AlCl [79110-87-5] (2). The Cd + species is unstable in water or other donor solvents, immediately disproportionating to Cd2+ and Cd. In general, cadmium compounds exhibit properties similar to the corresponding zinc compounds. Compounds and properties are listed in Table 1. Cadmium(TT) [22537 48-0] tends to favor tetrahedral coordination in its compounds, particularly in solution as complexes, eg, tetraamminecadmium(II) [18373-05-2], Cd(NH3)2+4. However, solid-state cadmium-containing oxide or halide materials frequently exhibit octahedral coordination at the Cd2+ ion, eg, the rock-salt structure found for CdO. 

Most of the Group IA and IIA metals react with hydrogen to form metal hydrides. For all of the metals in these two groups except Be and Mg, the hydrides are considered to be ionic or salt-like hydrides containing H ions (see Chapter 6). The hydrides of beryllium and magnesium have considerable covalent character. The molten ionic compounds conduct electricity, as do molten mixtures of the hydrides in alkali halides, and during electrolysis of the hydrides, hydrogen is liberated at the anode as a result of the oxidation of H ... 

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