Transition series

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF THE FIRST TRANSITION SERIES ELEMENTS... 

Figure li. . Graph oj h.p. against atomic number jor the Jirst transition series... 

In the chemistry of nickel, we observe the continuing tendency for the higher oxidation states to decrease in stability along the first transition series unlike cobalt and iron, the -e3 state is rare and relatively unimportant for nickel and the +2 state is the only important one. 

Copper differs in its chemistry from the earlier members of the first transition series. The outer electronic configuration contains a completely-filled set of d-orbitals and. as expected, copper forms compounds where it has the oxidation state -)-l. losing the outer (4s) electron and retaining all the 3d electrons. However, like the transition metals preceding it, it also shows the oxidation state +2 oxidation states other than -l-l and - -2 are unimportant. 

These elements formed Group IIB of Mendeleef s original periodic table. As we have seen in Chapter 13, zinc does not show very marked transition-metaf characteristics. The other two elements in this group, cadmium and mercury, lie at the ends of the second and third transition series (Y-Cd, La-Hg) and, although they resemble zinc in some respects in showing a predominantly - - 2 oxidation state, they also show rather more transition-metal characteristics. Additionally, mercury has characteristics, some of which relate it quite closely to its immediate predecessors in the third transition series, platinum and gold, and some of which are decidedly peculiar to mercury. 

Before it was known that elements beyond uranium were capable of existence, the heaviest known natural elements, thorium, protactinium and uranium, were placed in a sixth period of the periodic classification, corresponding to the elements hafnium, tantalum and tungsten in the preceding period. It was therefore implied that these elements were the beginning of a new, fourth transition series, with filling of the penultimate n = 6 level (just as the penultimate = 5... 

Evidence other than that of ion-exchange favours the view of the new elements as an inner transition series. The magnetic properties of their ions are very similar to those of the lanthanides whatever range of oxidation states the actinides display, they always have -1-3 as one of them. Moreover, in the lanthanides, the element gado-... 

Transition metal atoms are distinguished from other atoms by their having partially filled 3d, Ad or 5d orbitals. Here we consider only metals of the first transition series. Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu and Zn, in which the 3d orbital is involved. 

The actinide elements exhibit uniformity in ionic types. In acidic aqueous solution, there are four types of cations, and these and their colors are hsted in Table 5 (12—14,17). The open spaces indicate that the corresponding oxidation states do not exist in aqueous solution. The wide variety of colors exhibited by actinide ions is characteristic of transition series of elements. In general, protactinium(V) polymerizes and precipitates readily in aqueous solution and it seems unlikely that ionic forms ate present in such solutions. 

Manganese, atomic no. 25, belongs to the first transition series and is the principal member of Group 7 (VIIA). It has nine isotopes (1,2) (Table 1). Table 1. Isotopes of Manganese... 

As a general rule, elements in the second and third transition series have similar chemical properties. In contrast, the properties of the first member of the series are often different. This pattern of behavior is seen in Group 7 (VIIB). The properties of rhenium and technetium differ considerably from those of manganese. 

Vanadium [7440-62-2] V, (at. no. 23, at. wt 50.942) is a member of Group 5 (VB) of the Periodic Table. It is a gray body-centered-cubic metal in the first transition series (electronic configuration When highly pure, it is very soft and dutile. Because of its high melting point, vanadium is referred to as a... 

Copper compounds, which represent only a small percentage of ah copper production, play key roles ia both iadustry and the biosphere. Copper [7440-50.8] mol wt = 63.546, [Ar]3/°4.t is a member of the first transition series and much of its chemistry is associated with the copper(II) ion [15158-11-9] [Ar]3i5. Copper forms compounds of commercial iaterest ia the +1 and +2 oxidation states. The standard reduction potentials, for the reasonably attainable valence states of copper are... 

A further group of elements, the transuranium elements, has been synthesized by artificial nuclear reactions in the period from 1940 onwards their relation to the periodic table is discussed fully in Chapter 31 and need not be repeated here. Perhaps even more striking today are the predictions, as yet unverified, for the properties of the currently non-existent superheavy elements.Elements up to lawrencium (Z = 103) are actinides (5f) and the 6d transition series starts with element 104. So far only elements 104-112 have been synthesized, ) and, because there is as yet no agreement on trivial names for some of these elements (see pp. 1280-1), they are here referred to by their atomic numbers. A systematic naming scheme was approved by lUPAC in 1977 but is not widely used by researchers in the field. It involves the use of three-letter symbols derived directly from the atomic number by using the... 

The metals which form silicate and aluminosilicate minerals are the more electropositive metals, i.e. those in Groups 1, 2 and the 3d transition series (except Co), together with Y, La and the lanthanoids, Zr, Hf, Th, U and to a much lesser extent the post-transition elements Sn", Pb", and Bi ". 

Compared to later elements in their respective transition series, scandium, yttrium and lanthanum have rather poorly developed coordination chemistries and form weaker coordinate bonds, lanthanum generally being even less inclined to form strong coordinate bonds than scandium. This is reflected in the stability constants of a number of relevant 1 1 metal-edta complexes ... 

For the heavier congenors, tungsten in the group oxidation state is much more stable to reduction, and it is apparently the last element in the third transition series in which all the 5d electrons participate in metal bonding. 

In the solid state all three elements have typically metallic structures. Technetium and Re are isostructural with hep lattices, but there are 4 allotropes of Mn of which the o-fomi is the one stable at room temperature. This has a bcc structure in which, for reasons which are not clear, there are 4 distinct types of Mn atom. It is hard and brittle, and noticeably less refractory than its predecessors in the first transition series. 

Table 24.3 lists representative examples of the compounds of these elements in their various oxidation states. The wide range of the oxidation states is particularly noteworthy. It arises from the fact that, in moving across the transition series, the number of d electrons has increased and, in this mid-region, the d orbitals have not yet sunk energetically into the inert electron core. The number of d electrons available for bonding is consequently maximized, and not... 

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