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Lecture 31 Group 16
1
We have seen the structure of Borazine in a previous lecture, it is sometimes
referred to as inorganic benzene.
Note that two resonance structures are necessary to describe this molecule
using valence bond concepts.
Experimentally, all the B-N bonds have the same bond length, intermediate
between the characteristic of single and double bonds.
One of the best known cyclic phosphazenes is the trimer (a). In analogy with the
borazines, these molecules are pictured with alternating single and double p-d
P-N bonds, but in fact the P-N distances are about 1.5 shorter than P-N
bonds and longer than P=N bonds.
The N atoms are sp2 hybridized with the third unhybridized p orbital forming
the double bonds.
The P atoms are sp3 hybridized with a 3d orbital forming double bonds.
P N P N
2
2. Group 16 (6A) - The Chalcogens
O, S, Se- Selenium (all non metals), Te- Tellurium (metalloid), Po- Polonium
(metal, radioactive).
Marie Curie
Through her discovery of radium, Marie Curie paved the
way for nuclear physics and cancer therapy. Born of Polish
parents, she was a woman of science and courage,
compassionate yet stubbornly determined. Her research
work was to cost her her life.
In her pioneering way, Marie Curie decided, in 1897, to take a physics doctorate. Henri
Becquerel, who was studying X-rays, had recently observed that uranium salt left an
impression on a photographic plate in spite of its protective envelope. What better subject
could there have been for Marie than to try and understand the effect, the energy of these
uranic rays? Pierre consented. And so his frail wife set about her work, handling tons of
minerals; she noted that another substance, thorium, was "radioactive", a term she herself
had coined. Together, they demonstrated in a major discovery that radioactivity was not the
result of a chemical reaction but a property of the element or, more specifically, of the
atom. Marie then studied pitchblende, a uranic mineral in which she measured a much more
intense activity than is present in uranium alone. She deduced that there were other
substances besides uranium that were very radioactive, such as polonium and radium, which
she discovered in 1898.
3
In their experiments, Pierre observed the properties of the radiation while
Marie, for her part, purified the radioactive elements.
Both shared the same, uncanny tenacity, which was all the more admirable given
their deplorable living conditions. Their laboratory was nothing more than a
miserable hangar, where in winter the temperature dropped to around six
degrees.
One chemist commented that "it looked more like a stable or a potato cellar".
And yet, Marie admitted that "one of our pleasures was to enter our workshop at
night; then, all around us, we would see the luminous silhouettes of the beakers
and capsules that contained our products".
Despite their difficulty at obtaining any advances or loans, Marie and Pierre
Curie refused to file a patent application that would have secured them
financially; in their eyes, enabling any scientist, French or foreign, to find
applications for radioactivity took priority.
Pierre tested radium on his skin. It caused a burn, and then a wound: its effect
on man was thus proven. Soon radium was being used to treat malign tumours:
Curietherapy was born.
In 1903, Marie defended her thesis. Together with Becquerel, the Curies were
awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for their discovery of natural radioactivity.
Their happiness was short lived. In 1906, Pierre, weakened by radiation and
overworked, was run over by a car. Marie was forced to continue alone. She took
charge of educating her two children; she took up the position which her
husband had finally obtained at the Sorbonne, and thus became the first woman
to be appointed professor there.
She also had to fight the prejudices of her day: hatred of foreigners and sexism
which, in 1911, prevented her from entering the Academy of Science. And yet,
soon after, she was honored with a Nobel Prize for Chemistry for determining
the atomic weight of radium. But her real joy was "easing human suffering". The
founding of the Radium Institute by the University of Paris and the Pasteur
Institute in 1914 would enable her to fulfill her humanitarian wish.
4
Group 16 tend to have the negative oxidation states.
Stable oxidation states from -2 to +6 (all have -2 and S and Po only have +6).
The two most common elements are O and S.
Allotropes of O and S
Oxygen has two allotropes:
1. O2 molecular oxygen.
2. O3 ozone. O=O
5
S
S S
melts at 1200C
S S S8 (liquid)
via monoclinic
S S opaque yellow continue heating
S
solid
S8 solid
S6, S12, (etc)
rhombic translucent
yellow, solid
1600C
6
Applications
Sulfur is mostly used for the production of sulfuric acid, H2SO4.
Most sulfur mined by Frasch process is used in industry for the manufacture of
sulfuric acid. Sulfuric acid, the most abundantly produced chemical in the United
Most (about 70%) of the sulfuric acid produced in the world is used in the
fertilizer industry.
Sulfuric acid can act as a strong acid, a dehydrating agent, and an oxidizing
Reactions of Sulfur
Reading the following reactions, figure out and notice the change of the oxidation
state of S in the reactants and products. Common oxidation states of sulfur are -
2, 0, 4, and 6.
Sulfur (brimstone, stone that burns) reacts with O2 giving a blue flame:
S + O2 SO2 (anhydride of H2SO3)
SO2 is produced whenever metalsulfide is oxidized. It is recovered and oxidized
further to give SO3, for production of H2SO4. SO2 reacts with H2S to form H2O
and S.
S + SO32- S2O32-,
7
S-N Compounds
S2N2 disulfur dinitride. S N
N S
The nature of the bonding in N2S2 (and other N-S compounds) is far from
obvious.
Is 'N2S2 is said to be aromatic. Discuss'. The answer is meant to be that the
molecule is planar and possesses six electrons in orbitals of p symmetry, which
implies some similarity to the benzene molecule. In actual fact, nothing could be
further from the truth.
So what is the correct bonding and structure of N2S2? According to Greenwood
and Earnshaw, the geometry of the N2S2 molecule is, indeed, almost exactly a
square, in spite of the disparity in the sizes of the S and N atoms (b): The S-N
bond lengths, determined from X-ray diffraction studies, are 165.1 and 165.7 pm,
the S-N-S bond angle is 90.4, while the N-S-N angle is 89.9.
At room temperature, N2S2 readily polymerizes to form (SN)x, which is metallic
(c).
At very low temperatures (0.33K), the polymer becomes superconducting.
This polymer is comprised of adjacent N2S2 units un which bonds have been
rearranged to form a nearly flat chain.
Again the S-N bonds are intermediate in length, implying complete
delocalization of the electron density along the axis of the polymer.
8
Various derivatives of these compounds have been prepared in great numbers in
cyclophosphenes) (NSCl)3
S
N N
sp3 hybridized
S S
Cl N Cl
sp2 hybridized
The Cl derivative has delocalized S-N bonds,
but the F analogue has unequal bond lengths -
implying more localized S-N and S=N bonds..
Its structure remained unknown for more than a century after it was first
prepared.
It has a structure reminiscent of S8 (see earlier). All the S-N bonds are
intermediate in length between single (1.74) and double (1.54) bonds, the latter
involving a p-d bond, implying considerable delocalization around the ring.
If S4N4 is heated in a vacuum and passed over silver wool, colorless explosive
crystals of S2N2 can be trapped by rapidly cooling the vapor.
250-300 0C
2S4N4 + 8 Ag 4Ag2S(s) +2N2(g) + 2S2N2(s)