The alkali metals consist of the chemical elements lithium (Li), sodium (Na), potassium (K), rubidium (Rb), caesium (Cs), and francium (Fr). Together with hydrogen they constitute group 1, which lies in the s-block of the periodic table. All alkali metals have their outermost electron in an s-orbital: this shared electron configuration results in their having very similar characteristic properties. Indeed, the alkali metals provide the best example of group trends in properties in the periodic table, with elements exhibiting well-characterised homologous behaviour. This family of elements is also known as the lithium family after its leading element.
Hydroxide is a diatomic anion with chemical formula OH−. It consists of an oxygen and hydrogen atom held together by a single covalent bond, and carries a negative electric charge. It is an important but usually minor constituent of water. It functions as a base, a ligand, a nucleophile, and a catalyst. The hydroxide ion forms salts, some of which dissociate in aqueous solution, liberating solvated hydroxide ions. Sodium hydroxide is a multi-million-ton per annum commodity chemical. The corresponding electrically neutral compound HO• is the hydroxyl radical. The corresponding covalently bound group –OH of atoms is the hydroxy group. Hydroxide ion and hydroxy group are nucleophiles and can act as catalysts in organic chemistry.
An oxide is a chemical compound that contains at least one oxygen atom and one other element in its chemical formula. "Oxide" itself is the dianion of oxygen, an O2– (molecular) ion. Metal oxides thus typically contain an anion of oxygen in the oxidation state of −2. Most of the Earth's crust consists of solid oxides, the result of elements being oxidized by the oxygen in air or in water. Even materials considered pure elements often develop an oxide coating. For example, aluminium foil develops a thin skin of Al2O3 (called a passivation layer) that protects the foil from further corrosion. Certain elements can form multiple oxides, differing in the amounts of the element combining with the oxygen. Examples are carbon, iron, nitrogen (see nitrogen oxide), silicon, titanium, lithium, and aluminium. In such cases the oxides are distinguished by specifying the numbers of atoms involved, as in carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, or by specifying the element's oxidation number, as in iron(II) oxide and iron(III) oxide.
A superoxide is a compound that contains the superoxide ion, which has the chemical formula O−
2. The systematic name of the anion is dioxide(1−). The reactive oxygen ion superoxide is particularly important as the product of the one-electron reduction of dioxygen O2, which occurs widely in nature. Molecular oxygen (dioxygen) is a diradical containing two unpaired electrons, and superoxide results from the addition of an electron which fills one of the two degenerate molecular orbitals, leaving a charged ionic species with a single unpaired electron and a net negative charge of −1. Both dioxygen and the superoxide anion are free radicals that exhibit paramagnetism. Superoxide was historically also known as "hyperoxide".
Potassium oxide (K2O) is an ionic compound of potassium and oxygen. It is a base. This pale yellow solid is the simplest oxide of potassium. It is a highly reactive compound that is rarely encountered. Some industrial materials, such as fertilizers and cements, are assayed assuming the percent composition that would be equivalent to K2O.
In chemistry, perxenates are salts of the yellow xenon-containing anion XeO4−
6. This anion has octahedral molecular geometry, as determined by Raman spectroscopy, having O–Xe–O bond angles varying between 87° and 93°. The Xe–O bond length was determined by X-ray crystallography to be 1.875 Å.
In chemistry, a reactivity series (or activity series) is an empirical, calculated, and structurally analytical progression of a series of metals, arranged by their "reactivity" from highest to lowest. It is used to summarize information about the reactions of metals with acids and water, single displacement reactions and the extraction of metals from their ores.
Silver(I) oxide is the chemical compound with the formula Ag2O. It is a fine black or dark brown powder that is used to prepare other silver compounds.
Peroxynitrite (sometimes called peroxonitrite) is an ion with the formula ONOO−. It is an unstable structural isomer of nitrate, NO−
3. Although its conjugate acid peroxynitrous acid is highly reactive, peroxynitrite is stable in basic solutions. It is prepared by the reaction of hydrogen peroxide with nitrite:
Water-reactive substances are those that spontaneously undergo a chemical reaction with water, as they are highly reducing in nature. Notable examples include alkali metals, sodium through caesium, and alkaline earth metals, magnesium through barium.
Beryllium hydroxide, Be(OH)2, is an amphoteric hydroxide, dissolving in both acids and alkalis. Industrially, it is produced as a by-product in the extraction of beryllium metal from the ores beryl and bertrandite. The natural pure beryllium hydroxide is rare (in form of the mineral behoite, orthorhombic) or very rare (clinobehoite, monoclinic). When alkali is added to beryllium salt solutions the α-form (a gel) is formed. If this left to stand or boiled, the rhombic β-form precipitates. This has the same structure as zinc hydroxide, Zn(OH)2, with tetrahedral beryllium centers.
Basic oxides are oxides that show basic properties in opposition to acidic oxides and that either
Potassium sulfide is an inorganic compound with the formula K2S. The colourless solid is rarely encountered, because it reacts readily with water, a reaction that affords potassium hydrosulfide (KSH) and potassium hydroxide (KOH). Most commonly, the term potassium sulfide refers loosely to this mixture, not the anhydrous solid.
The oxidation state of oxygen is −2 in almost all known compounds of oxygen. The oxidation state −1 is found in a few compounds such as peroxides. Compounds containing oxygen in other oxidation states are very uncommon: −1⁄2 (superoxides), −1⁄3 (ozonides), 0, +1⁄2 (dioxygenyl), +1, and +2.
Germanium monoxide, GeO, is a chemical compound of germanium and oxygen. It can be prepared as a yellow sublimate at 1000 °C by reacting GeO2 with Ge metal. The yellow sublimate turns brown on heating at 650 °C. GeO is not well characterised. It is amphoteric dissolving in acids to form germanium(II) salts and in alkali to form "trihydroxogermanates" or "germanites" containing the Ge(OH)3− ion.
Germanium dichloride is a chemical compound of germanium and chlorine with the formula GeCl2. It is a solid and contains germanium in the +2 oxidation state.
Polonium dioxide (also known as polonium(IV) oxide) is a chemical compound with the formula PoO2. It is one of three oxides of polonium, the other two being polonium monoxide (PoO) and polonium trioxide (PoO3). It is a pale yellow crystalline solid at room temperature. Under lowered pressure (such as a vacuum), it decomposes into elemental polonium and oxygen at 500 °C. It is the most stable oxide of polonium and is an interchalcogen.
Bismuth hydroxide is non-fully characterised chemical compound of bismuth. It is produced as white flakes when alkali is added to a solution of a bismuth salt and is usually described as bismuth oxide hydrate or bismuth hydrate.
Metal peroxides are metal-containing compounds with ionically- or covalently-bonded peroxide (O2−
2) groups. This large family of compounds can be divided into ionic and covalent peroxide. The first class mostly contains the peroxides of the alkali and alkaline earth metals whereas the covalent peroxides are represented by such compounds as hydrogen peroxide and peroxymonosulfuric acid (H2SO5). In contrast to the purely ionic character of alkali metal peroxides, peroxides of transition metals have a more covalent character.
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