Hydrogen telluride is the
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 chemis ...
with the formula
H2 Te. A
hydrogen chalcogenide Hydrogen chalcogenides (also chalcogen hydrides or hydrogen chalcides) are binary compounds of hydrogen with chalcogen atoms (elements of group 16: oxygen, sulfur, selenium, tellurium, and polonium). Water, the first chemical compound in this serie ...
and the simplest hydride of
tellurium
Tellurium is a chemical element with the symbol Te and atomic number 52. It is a brittle, mildly toxic, rare, silver-white metalloid. Tellurium is chemically related to selenium and sulfur, all three of which are chalcogens. It is occasionall ...
, it is a colorless gas. Although unstable in ambient air, the gas can exist at very low concentrations long enough to be readily detected by the odour of rotting garlic at extremely low concentrations; or by the revolting odour of rotting
leeks
The leek is a vegetable, a cultivar of ''Allium ampeloprasum'', the broadleaf wild leek ( syn. ''Allium porrum''). The edible part of the plant is a bundle of leaf sheaths that is sometimes erroneously called a stem or stalk. The genus ''Alliu ...
at somewhat higher concentrations. Most compounds with Te–H bonds (
tellurol
Tellurols are analogues of alcohols and phenols where tellurium replaces oxygen. Tellurols, selenols, and thiols have similar properties, but tellurols are the least stable. Although they are fundamental representatives of organotellurium compounds ...
s) are unstable with respect to loss of H
2. H
2Te is chemically and structurally similar to
hydrogen selenide
Hydrogen selenide is an inorganic compound with the formula H2Se. This hydrogen chalcogenide is the simplest and most commonly encountered hydride of selenium. H2Se is a colorless, flammable gas under standard conditions. It is the most toxic sel ...
, both are acidic. The H–Te–H angle is about 90°. Volatile tellurium compounds often have unpleasant odours, reminiscent of decayed leeks or garlic.
[Greenwood, N. N.; & Earnshaw, A. (1997). Chemistry of the Elements (2nd Edn.), Oxford:Butterworth-Heinemann. .]
Synthesis
Electrolytic methods have been developed.
[F. Fehér, "Hydrogen Telluride" in Handbook of Preparative Inorganic Chemistry, 2nd Ed. Edited by G. Brauer, Academic Press, 1963, NY. Vol. 1. pp. 438.]
H
2Te can also be prepared by hydrolysis of the telluride derivatives of electropositive metals. The typical hydrolysis is that of
aluminium telluride:
:Al
2Te
3 + 6 H
2O → 2 Al(OH)
3 + 3 H
2Te
Other salts of Te
2− such as MgTe and
sodium telluride can also be used. Na
2Te can be made by the reaction of Na and Te in anhydrous
ammonia
Ammonia is an inorganic compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . A stable binary hydride, and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinct pungent smell. Biologically, it is a common nitrogenous ...
.
The intermediate in the hydrolysis, , can be isolated as salts as well. NaHTe, can be made by reducing tellurium with
.
Hydrogen telluride cannot be efficiently prepared from its constituent elements, in contrast to H
2Se.
[
]
Properties
is an endothermic
In thermochemistry, an endothermic process () is any thermodynamic process with an increase in the enthalpy (or internal energy ) of the system.Oxtoby, D. W; Gillis, H.P., Butler, L. J. (2015).''Principle of Modern Chemistry'', Brooks Cole. ...
compound, degrading to the elements at room temperature:
: → + Te
Light accelerates the decomposition. It is unstable in air, being oxidized to water and elemental tellurium:phosphoric acid
Phosphoric acid (orthophosphoric acid, monophosphoric acid or phosphoric(V) acid) is a colorless, odorless phosphorus-containing solid, and inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is commonly encountered as an 85% aqueous solution, w ...
(''K''a = 8.1×10−3), having a ''K''a value of about 2.3×10−3.
See also
*Dimethyl telluride
Dimethyl telluride is an organotelluride compound, formula ( CH3)2 Te, also known by the abbreviation DMTe.
This was the first material used to grow epitaxial cadmium telluride and mercury cadmium telluride using metalorganic vapour phase epit ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hydrogen Telluride
Hydrogen compounds
Tellurides