Concept

Amalgam (chemistry)

Summary

An amalgam is an alloy of mercury with another metal. It may be a liquid, a soft paste or a solid, depending upon the proportion of mercury. These alloys are formed through metallic bonding, with the electrostatic attractive force of the conduction electrons working to bind all the positively charged metal ions together into a crystal lattice structure. Almost all metals can form amalgams with mercury, the notable exceptions being iron, platinum, tungsten, and tantalum. Silver-mercury amalgams are important in dentistry, and gold-mercury amalgam is used in the extraction of gold from ore. Dentistry has used alloys of mercury with metals such as silver, copper, indium, tin and zinc. Zinc amalgam finds use in organic synthesis (e.g., for the Clemmensen reduction). It is the reducing agent in the Jones reductor, used in analytical chemistry. Formerly the zinc plates of dry batteries were amalgamated with a small amount of mercury to prevent deterioration in storage. It is a binary solution (liquid-solid) of mercury and zinc. For the alkali metals, amalgamation is exothermic, and distinct chemical forms can be identified, such as KHg and KHg2. KHg is a gold-coloured compound with a melting point of 178 °C, and KHg2 a silver-coloured compound with a melting point of 278 °C. These amalgams are very sensitive to air and water, but can be worked with under dry nitrogen. The Hg-Hg distance is around 300 picometres, Hg-K around 358 pm. Phases K5Hg7 and KHg11 are also known; rubidium, strontium and barium undecamercurides are known and isostructural. Sodium amalgam (NaHg2) has a different structure, with the mercury atoms forming hexagonal layers, and the sodium atoms a linear chain which fits into the holes in the hexagonal layers, but the potassium atom is too large for this structure to work in KHg2. Sodium amalgam Sodium amalgam is produced as a byproduct of the chloralkali process and used as an important reducing agent in organic and inorganic chemistry.

Official source

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amalgam_(chemistry)

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