Tetrahalides, metal

All Group IV elements form tetrachlorides, MX4, which are predominantly tetrahedral and covalent. Germanium, tin and lead also form dichlorides, these becoming increasingly ionic in character as the atomic weight of the Group IV element increases and the element becomes more metallic. Carbon and silicon form catenated halides which have properties similar to their tetrahalides. 

The separation of niobium from tantalum tluough the gaseous chlorides is carried out at higher temperature, about 900 K, and it is therefore to be expected, as is the case, that the thermodynamic data will provide a useful guide. These metals form a number of chlorides, mainly the ui- tetra- and pentachlorides. These latter are much more volatile than the tetrahalides, and the exchange reaction at 900 K... 

Similar results are obtained for dre deposition of the carbides of these metals using methane as a source of carbon, atrd silicon tetrahalides for the preparation of silicides. These reactions are more complex than dre preparation of the diborides because of the number of carbides atrd silicides that the tratrsition metals form, some of which have wide ranges of non-stoichiometry. The control of the ratio of the partial pressures of dre ingoing gases is therefore important as a process variable. 

Sulfonylaziridine 243 was halogenated in carbon tetrahalides in the presence of KOH as base [86] (Scheme 5.61). Although other examples of electrophile trapping of sulfonyl- and phosphonyl-stabilized metalated aziridines exist, the reactions were not stereoselective [87]. 

Reductive methods form B—B bonds from B—X bonds. For B2X4 (X = Cl, Br, I) from BXj, an electric discharge is supplemented by the presence of a metal, or metal atoms, as halide scavenger. The passage of BX3 at low pressure through a rf discharge in the presence of Hg produces the diboron tetrahalides B2X4 at 300 mg h ... 

Despite the large body of literature discussing the preparation and reaction chemis try of dichloromethylene in solution, very few reports of the isolation of the molecule have appeared. The technique of forming Group IV dihalides from the reduction of the tetrahalide with the metal has proved to be of great utility for production of SiX2 and GeX2, but has not been successful in the case of carbon. 

The most widely studied transition metal is titanium. At various times, all oxidation states of titanium (II, III, IV) have been proposed for the active site of titanium-based initiators. Most of the evidence points to titanium (HI) as the most stereoselective oxidation state, although not necessarily the most active nor the only one [Chien et al., 1982]. (Data for vanadium systems indicate that trivalent vanadium sites are the syndioselective sites [Lehr, 1968].) Initiators based on the a-, y-, and 8-titanium trihalides are much more stereoselective (iso-selective) than those based on the tetrahalide or dihalide. By itself, TiCl2 is inactive as an initiator but is activated by ball milling due to disproportionation to TiCl3 and Ti [Werber et al., 1968]. The overall stereoselectivity is usually a-, y-, 8-TiCl , > TiCL > TiCLj P-TiCl3 [Natta et al., 1957b,c],... 

Zirconium(IV) and hafnium(IV) chlorides and bromides form 1 2 adducts of the type [ZrX4(RCN)2] (R = Me, Et, Pr or Ph X = Cl or Br) and [HfX4(MeCN)2] (X = Cl or Br).11SM24 These complexes may be prepared by (i) direct reaction of the metal tetrahalide with an excess of the nitrile120 123 or (ii) electrochemical oxidation of zirconium or hafnium metal in the presence of a solution of chlorine or bromine in acetonitrile.118 The adducts are moisture-sensitive, white solids, insoluble in nonpolar solvents, but soluble in acetonitrile. In the later solvent, [ZrBr4(MeCN)2 behaves as a nonelectrolyte.122... 

Not all of the compounds listed in Table 13 have been isolated in the solid state. The existence of some of the ester adducts has been inferred from electric polarization and cryoscopic molecular weight measurements on 1 1 and 1 2 stoichiometric mixtures of the metal tetrahalide and the ester in benzene solution. The concentration dependence of the polarizations and molecular weights294-297,304 indicates that the 1 1 complexes tend to dimerize in the more concentrated solutions and the 1 2 complexes tend to dissociate (equation 41) in... 

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