Beryllium sulfate normally encountered as the tetrahydrate, e(H₂O)₄O₄ is a white crystalline solid. It was first isolated in 1815 by Jons Jakob Berzelius.

Beryllium Beryllium is a chemical element with the symbol Be and atomic number 4. It is a steel-gray, strong, lightweight and brittle alkaline earth metal. It is a divalent element that occurs naturally only in combination with other elements to form mi ...

sulfate may be prepared by treating an aqueous solution of many beryllium salts with

sulfuric acid Sulfuric acid (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid ( Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen and hydrogen, with the molecular formu ...

, followed by evaporation of the solution and crystallization. The hydrated product may be converted to anhydrous salt by heating at 400 °C.

Structure

According to

X-ray crystallography X-ray crystallography is the experimental science determining the atomic and molecular structure of a crystal, in which the crystalline structure causes a beam of incident X-rays to diffract into many specific directions. By measuring the angles ...

the tetrahydrate contains a tetrahedral Be(OH₂)₄²⁺ unit and sulfate anions. The small size of the Be²⁺ cation determines the number of water molecules that can be coordinated. In contrast, the analogous magnesium salt, MgSO₄·6H₂O contains an octahedral Mg(OH₂)₆²⁺ unit.Wells A.F. (1984) ''Structural Inorganic Chemistry'' 5th edition Oxford Science Publications The existence of the tetrahedral e(OH₂)₄sup>2+ ion in aqueous solutions of

beryllium nitrate Beryllium nitrate is an inorganic compound with the idealized chemical formula Be(NO3)2. The formula suggests a salt, but, as for many beryllium compounds, the compound is highly covalent. Little of its chemistry is well known. "When added to ...

and

beryllium chloride Beryllium chloride is an inorganic compound with the formula BeCl2. It is a colourless, hygroscopic solid that dissolves well in many polar solvents. Its properties are similar to those of aluminium chloride, due to beryllium's diagonal relatio ...

has been confirmed by

vibrational spectroscopy Infrared spectroscopy (IR spectroscopy or vibrational spectroscopy) is the measurement of the interaction of infrared radiation with matter by absorption, emission, or reflection. It is used to study and identify chemical substances or function ...

, as indicated by the totally symmetric BeO4 mode attt 531 cm⁻¹. This band is absent in beryllium sulfate, and the sulfate modes are perturbed. The data support the existence of Be(OH₂)₃OSO₃. The anhydrous compound has a structure similar to that of

berlinite Berlinite ( aluminium phosphate, chemical formula AlPO4 or Al(PO4)) is a rare high-temperature hydrothermal or metasomatic phosphate mineral. It has the same crystal structure as quartz with a low temperature polytype isostructural with α–quar ...

. The structure contains alternating tetrahedrally coordinated Be and S and each oxygen is 2 coordinate (Be-O-S). The Be-O distance is 156 pm and the S-O distance is 150 pm. A mixture of beryllium and radium sulfate was used as the

neutron source A neutron source is any device that emits neutrons, irrespective of the mechanism used to produce the neutrons. Neutron sources are used in physics, engineering, medicine, nuclear weapons, petroleum exploration, biology, chemistry, and nuclear p ...

in the discovery of

nuclear fission Nuclear fission is a reaction in which the nucleus of an atom splits into two or more smaller nuclei. The fission process often produces gamma photons, and releases a very large amount of energy even by the energetic standards of radio ...

References

External links

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IARC Monograph "Beryllium and Beryllium Compounds"
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{{Authority control Beryllium compounds Sulfates