User:Praseodymium-141/Chlorine compounds
Chemical compounds containing chlorine / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Chlorine compounds are compounds containing the element chlorine (Cl). Chlorine is intermediate in reactivity between fluorine and bromine, and is one of the most reactive elements. Chlorine is a weaker oxidising agent than fluorine but a stronger one than bromine or iodine. This can be seen from the standard electrode potentials of the X2/X− couples (F, +2.866 V; Cl, +1.395 V; Br, +1.087 V; I, +0.615 V; At, approximately +0.3 V). However, this trend is not shown in the bond energies because fluorine is singular due to its small size, low polarisability, and inability to show hypervalence. As another difference, chlorine has a significant chemistry in positive oxidation states while fluorine does not. Chlorination often leads to higher oxidation states than bromination or iodination but lower oxidation states than fluorination. Chlorine tends to react with compounds including M–M, M–H, or M–C bonds to form M–Cl bonds.[1]
X | XX | HX | BX3 | AlX3 | CX4 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
F | 159 | 574 | 645 | 582 | 456 |
Cl | 243 | 428 | 444 | 427 | 327 |
Br | 193 | 363 | 368 | 360 | 272 |
I | 151 | 294 | 272 | 285 | 239 |
Given that E°(1/2O2/H2O) = +1.229 V, which is less than +1.395 V, it would be expected that chlorine should be able to oxidise water to oxygen and hydrochloric acid. However, the kinetics of this reaction are unfavorable, and there is also a bubble overpotential effect to consider, so that electrolysis of aqueous chloride solutions evolves chlorine gas and not oxygen gas, a fact that is very useful for the industrial production of chlorine.[2]