On Mercury(I) Oxo Compounds — Quasi‐Relativistic Computational and Experimental Studies

About 60 molecular species composed of up to 10 mercury atoms and of oxygen atoms and/or of some other elements or groups (such as halogen, OH₂, OH, H, alkali, NO₃) have been investigated quantum chemically. Different density functional approaches and the ab initio SCF‐MP2 method were applied, comparing different basis sets and different atomic core sizes. It is important not to treat the Hg 5s, p, d as inactive core shells, and to use sufficiently many polarization functions. The shape of the 〉O‐Hg‐Hg‐O〈 units is not favorable concerning the formation of lattices composed of Hg^I, O and OH only. Despite its bulkiness, the OHgHgO units can easily come into contact with each other and then disproportionate. This is prevented in the so‐called ternary M‐Hg^I oxides by the embedded oxometallate (oxoacidic) anions. Furthermore, the Hg^I and Hg^II oxide bond energies are less favorable towards the stability of Hg^I oxo compounds, as compared to Hg halidic or oxoacidic compounds. Both points are not promising concerning the search for Hg^I oxides/hydroxides, although the preparation of such compounds, including spacer groups, by topochemical reactions can still not be excluded. So far, experimental efforts towards the synthesis of such a new class of compounds have only demonstrated that Hg^II is strictly preferred over Hg^I in the formation of solids of binary Hg‐O or ternary A‐Hg‐O composition (A = electropositive metal such as alkali, in contrast to M = transition or semi‐metal). This is so even if compounds containing ‘electron rich Hg^δ— atoms’ (i.e. A‐Hg amalgams) are oxidized under mild conditions.     

Ternäre Thallium-Indium-Sulfide: Eine Zusammenfassung

Ternary Thallium Indium Sulfides: A Summary Combined thermal and X-Ray analyses in the ternary system Thallium—Indium—Sulfur show, that the two binary sections Tl₂S? In₂S₃ and TlS? InS contain ternary compounds with unique crystal structures. The chemical formulas of these ternary solids are TlIn₅S₈, TlIn₃S₅, TlInS₂ and Tl₃InS₃ for the section Tl₂S? In₂S₃ and TlIn₅S₆ as well as Tl₃In₅S₈ (metastable high temperature phase) for the section TlS? InS respectively. With TlIn₅S₇ an additional ternary solid could be detected, which is located outside the two sections. It is derived from the binary mixed valence compound In₆S₇ by complete substitution of In⁺ by Tl⁺. The following ionic formulations make the mixed valence character of the ternary Thallium—Indium-Sulfides reasonable: TlIn₅S₈ = Tl⁺(In³⁺)₅(S^2?)₈, TlIn₃S₅ = Tl⁺ (In³⁺)₃(S^2?)₅, TlInS₂ = Tl⁺In³⁺(S^2?)₂, Tl₃InS₃ = (Tl⁺)₃In³⁺ · (S^2?)₃, TlIn₅S₆ = Tl⁺([In₂]⁴⁺)₂In³⁺ (S^2?)₆, Tl₃In₅S₈ = 4 × [(Tl⁺)_0,75 · (In⁺)_0,25In³⁺(S^2?)₂], TlIn₅S₇ = Tl⁺[In₂]⁴⁺ (In³⁺)₃(S^2?)₇. All compounds contain Tl⁺-ions in a characteristic “lone pair coordination” of S^2? ions. Indium atoms however occur with the oxidation numbers +2 (formal, In₂ dumb bells with covalent In? In bonding) and +3 (with In³⁺ in tetrahedral and octahedral coordination of S^2?). Chemical preparation, crystal chemistry and general properties of the ternary solids are discussed, summarized and compared to each other.