Sodium-graphite compounds

The synthesis of metal graphite compounds is carried out by the reduction of layer graphite compounds and metal chlorides by using different reducing agents such as, for instance, solutions of aromatic anion radicals in THF, metallic sodium in liquid ammonia, complex boron and aluminum hydrides, and vapor or liquid potassium. As a result, the complex compounds containing one (Sn, Co, Mn, Cr, Mo, W, Pd) and two (Fe-Mo, Fe-W, or Mo W) metals were synthesized. 

These compounds resemble alkali metal-graphite compounds both in their structure and in their properties. The method used in their preparation was the result of a chance observation in the author s laboratory (80). During an investigation of electrolytic reactions in liquid ammonia a solution of sodium amide in liquid ammonia was electrolyzed with graphite electrodes, and it was found that the cathode swelled and disintegrated. Since the electrodes were not attacked in the solution when there was no electrolysis it was clear that the change could only have... 

Graphite compounds of rubidium and cesium seem to be more stable and to be formed easily. This is of technical importance since the absorption of the fission elements rubidium and cesium by graphite immersed in liquid sodium will be applied to remove them from the sodium coolant of a fast neutron reactor The formation of a lithium compound of this type has never been observed. 

There is Htde evidence of the direct formation of sodium carbide from the elements (29,30), but sodium and graphite form lamellar intercalation compounds (16,31—33). At 500—700°C, sodium and sodium carbonate produce the carbide, Na2C2 above 700°C, free carbon is also formed (34). Sodium reacts with carbon monoxide to give sodium carbide (34), and with acetylene to give sodium acetyHde, NaHC2, and sodium carbide (disodium acetyHde), Na2C2 (see Carbides) (8). 

The electrolytic processing of concentrated ore to form the metal depends on the specific chemical properties of the metallic compound. To produce aluminum about 2 to 6 percent of purified aluminum oxide is dissolved in ciyolite (sodium alumi-no-fliioride, Na AlF ) at about 960°C. The reduction of the alumina occurs at a carbon (graphite) anode ... 

Whereas technique (4) works for all alkali metals, lithium and sodium behave differently from potassium, rubidium, and cesium with respect to graphite on direct combination. The last three react facilely with graphite, to form compounds CgM (first stage) and Ci2 M (stage n > 1), but lithium reacts only under more extreme conditions of temperature or pressure, or both, to form compounds of formula CenLi (G3,... 

The ionic polymerisation of styrene is as dangerous. Interlaminar compounds of sodium or potassium with graphite catalyse the polymerisation of styrene. This method can usually be controlled. Nevertheless, it gives rise to detonations. It was assumed that in these cases the lamellar structure of graphite is destroyed and the metallic particles dispersed. 

Interlaminar compounds of sodium or potassium in graphite will ionically polymerise styrene (and other monomers) smoothly. The occasional explosions experienced were probably due to rapid collapse of the layer structure and release of very finely divided metal. 

Pyral A process for destroying toxic waste oiganochlorine compounds. The wastes are mixed with carbon and sodium carbonate and injected into a graphite-lined arc furnace. Metallic sodium, formed by reduction of the sodium carbonate by the carbon, attacks the chlorinated organic compounds, forming sodium chloride. Developed by Hydro-Quebec in the late 1980s but not yet commercialized. 

A mixture of compound 1 (0.2 g, 0.75 mmol), anthranilic acid (0.374 g, 4.3 mmol) and graphite (2 g) was placed in the microwave oven in a 70-mL quartz vial. The irradiation was programmed at 105 W for 90 min (after a period of 2-3 min the temperature reached a plateau, 170 °C, and remained constant). After cooling, the graphite powder was filtered and washed with dichloro-methane. The organic solution was washed with a saturated solution of sodium bicarbonate, and the crude product recrystallized in ethanol. 

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