Basic Berylium Acetate
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Basic beryllium acetate is the
chemical compound A chemical compound is a chemical substance composed of many identical molecules (or molecular entities) containing atoms from more than one chemical element held together by chemical bonds. A molecule consisting of atoms of only one element ...
with the formula Be4O(O2CCH3)6. This
compound Compound may refer to: Architecture and built environments * Compound (enclosure), a cluster of buildings having a shared purpose, usually inside a fence or wall ** Compound (fortification), a version of the above fortified with defensive struct ...
adopts a distinctive structure, but it has no applications and has been only lightly studied. It is a colourless solid that is soluble in organic solvents.


Preparation

It can be prepared by treating
basic beryllium carbonate Beryllium carbonate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . Structures There are three forms reported, anhydrous, a tetrahydrate and basic beryllium carbonate. The anhydrous form is reported to be unstable, decomposing to BeO and carbo ...
with hot
acetic acid Acetic acid , systematically named ethanoic acid , is an acidic, colourless liquid and organic compound with the chemical formula (also written as , , or ). Vinegar is at least 4% acetic acid by volume, making acetic acid the main component ...
. : 2 + 6 AcOH → + 5 + 2 Basic beryllium acetate is insoluble in water but soluble in
chloroform Chloroform, or trichloromethane, is an organic compound with chemical formula, formula Carbon, CHydrogen, HChlorine, Cl3 and a common organic solvent. It is a colorless, strong-smelling, dense liquid produced on a large scale as a precursor to ...
, consistent with it being nonpolar. It melts and sublimes in a vacuum without decomposition.


Structure

"Basic
acetates An acetate is a salt formed by the combination of acetic acid with a base (e.g. alkaline, earthy, metallic, nonmetallic or radical base). "Acetate" also describes the conjugate base or ion (specifically, the negatively charged ion called an a ...
" consist of an ensemble of metal centres bound to a central oxide ion, and a collection of acetate
ligand In coordination chemistry, a ligand is an ion or molecule (functional group) that binds to a central metal atom to form a coordination complex. The bonding with the metal generally involves formal donation of one or more of the ligand's electr ...
s. Basic beryllium acetate has a tetrahedral Be4O6+ core with acetates (CH3CO2) spanning each of the pairs of Be2+ centres. It consists of interlocking six-membered Be2O3C rings. The structure is relevant to its considerable stability (the compound is distillable at 330 °C).


Uses

The solubility of the salt in organic solvents (chloroform) is useful to extract and purify beryllium rich fractions for many purposes. Basic beryllium acetate single crystals can easily be grown and are helpful to align x-ray diffractometers and also as a reference in protein crystallography.


See also

*
Basic zinc acetate Zinc acetate is a Salt (chemistry), salt with the chemical formula, formula Zn(CH3CO2)2, which commonly occurs as the Hydrate, dihydrate Zn(CH3CO2)2·2H2O. Both the hydrate and the anhydrous forms are colorless solids that are used as dietary supp ...
* Basic beryllium nitrate


References

{{Acetates Beryllium compounds Acetates