Sodium selenide is an
inorganic compound
In chemistry, an inorganic compound is typically a chemical compound that lacks carbon–hydrogen bonds, that is, a compound that is not an organic compound. The study of inorganic compounds is a subfield of chemistry known as '' inorganic chemi ...
of
sodium
Sodium is a chemical element with the symbol Na (from Latin ''natrium'') and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal. Sodium is an alkali metal, being in group 1 of the periodic table. Its only stable ...
and
selenium
Selenium is a chemical element with the symbol Se and atomic number 34. It is a nonmetal (more rarely considered a metalloid) with properties that are intermediate between the elements above and below in the periodic table, sulfur and telluriu ...
with the
chemical formula
In chemistry, a chemical formula is a way of presenting information about the chemical proportions of atoms that constitute a particular chemical compound or molecule, using chemical element symbols, numbers, and sometimes also other symbols, ...
Na
2Se.
Preparation
This colourless solid is prepared by the reaction of selenium with a solution of sodium in liquid ammonia at −40 °C.
[Brauer, G. ed. (1963) ''Handbook of Preparative Inorganic Chemistry'', 2nd Ed., Academic Press, NY., Vol. 1. p. 421.] Alternatively, sodium selenide can be prepared by the reaction of gaseous
hydrogen selenide with metallic sodium at 100 °C.
Reactions
Like other alkali metal
chalcogenides, this material is highly sensitive to water, easily undergoing hydrolysis to give mixtures of
sodium biselenide (NaSeH) and hydroxide. This hydrolysis occurs because of the extreme basicity of the Se
2− ion.
:Na
2Se + H
2O → NaHSe + NaOH
Similarly, sodium selenide is readily oxidized to
polyselenides, a conversion signaled by off-white samples.
Sodium selenide reacts with
acids to produce toxic
hydrogen selenide gas.
:Na
2Se + 2 HCl → H
2Se + 2 NaCl
The compound reacts with electrophiles to produce the selenium compounds. With alkyl halides, one obtains a variety of
organoselenium compounds:
:Na
2Se + 2 RBr → R
2Se + 2 NaBr
Organotin
Organotin compounds or stannanes are chemical compounds based on tin with hydrocarbon substituents. Organotin chemistry is part of the wider field of organometallic chemistry. The first organotin compound was diethyltin diiodide (), discovered ...
and
organosilicon
Organosilicon compounds are organometallic compounds containing carbon–silicon bonds. Organosilicon chemistry is the corresponding science of their preparation and properties. Most organosilicon compounds are similar to the ordinary organic c ...
halides react similarly to give the expected derivatives:
:Na
2Se + 2 Me
3XCl → (Me
3X)
2Se + 2 NaCl (X ∈ Si, Ge, Sn)
References
Sodium compounds
Selenides
Fluorite crystal structure
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