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Selenium monochloride or diselenium dichloride is an inorganic compound with the formula Se2Cl2. Although a common name for the compound is selenium monochloride, reflecting its empirical formula, IUPAC does not recommend that name, instead preferring the more descriptive diselenium dichloride.

Diselenium dichloride is a reddish-brown, oily liquid that hydrolyses slowly. It exists in chemical equilibrium with SeCl2, SeCl4, chlorine, and elemental selenium.[1] Diselenium dichloride is mainly used as a reagent for the synthesis of Se-containing compounds.

Structure and properties

Dielenium dichloride has the connectivity Cl−Se−Se−Cl. With a nonplanar structure, it has C2 molecular symmetry, similar to hydrogen peroxide and disulfur dichloride, which is referred to as gauche. The Se-Se bond length is 223 pm, and the Se-Cl bond lengths are 220 pm. The dihedral angle between the Cla−Se−Se and Se−Se−Clb planes is 87°.[2]

Preparation

Early routes to diselenium dichloride involved chlorination of elemental selenium.[3] An improved method involves the reaction of a mixture of selenium, selenium dioxide, and hydrochloric acid:[4]

3 Se + SeO2 + 4 HCl → 2 Se2Cl2 + 2 H2O

A dense layer of diselenium dichloride settles from the reaction mixture, which can be purified by dissolving it in fuming sulfuric acid and reprecipitating it with hydrochloric acid. A second method for the synthesis involves the reaction of selenium with oleum and hydrochloric acid:[4]

2 Se + 2 SO3 + 3 HCl → Se2Cl2 + SO2 + H2O + SO2(OH)Cl

The crude diselenium dichloride is removed via separatory funnel. Diselenium dichloride cannot be distilled without decomposition, even at reduced pressure.[4]

In acetonitrile solutions, it exists in equilibrium with SeCl2 and SeCl4.[5] Selenium dichloride degrades to diselenium dichloride after a few minutes at room temperature:[6]

3 SeCl2 → Se2Cl2 + SeCl4

Reactions

Diselenium dichloride is an electrophilic selenizing agent, and thus it reacts with simple alkenes to give bis(β-chloroalkyl)selenide and bis(chloroalkyl)selenium dichloride. It converts hydrazones of hindered ketones into the corresponding selenoketones, the structural analogs of ketones whereby the oxygen atom is replaced with a selenium atom.[7] Finally, the compound has been used to introduce bridging selenium ligands between the metal atoms of some iron and chromium carbonyl complexes.[7]

References

  1. ^ Greenwood, Norman N.; Earnshaw, Alan (1997). Chemistry of the Elements (2nd ed.). Butterworth-Heinemann. ISBN 978-0-08-037941-8.
  2. ^ Kniep, Rüdiger; Körte, Lutz; Mootz, Dietrich (1 January 1983). "Kristallstrukturen von Verbindungen A2X2 (A = S, Se; X = Cl, Br)". Zeitschrift für Naturforschung B. 38 (1): 1–6. doi:10.1515/znb-1983-0102.
  3. ^ Lenher, Victor; Kao, C. H. (1925). "The Preparation of Selenium Monochloride and Monobromide". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 47 (3): 772–774. doi:10.1021/ja01680a025.
  4. ^ a b c Fehér, F. (1963). "Diselenium Dichloride". In Brauer, G. (ed.). Handbook of Preparative Inorganic Chemistry. Vol. 1 (2nd ed.). New York: Academic Press. pp. 422–423.
  5. ^ Lamoureux, Marc; Milne, John (1990). "Selenium chloride and bromide equilibria in aprotic solvents; a Se77 NMR study". Polyhedron. 9 (4): 589–595. doi:10.1016/S0277-5387(00)86238-5.
  6. ^ Maaninen, Arto; Chivers, Tristram; Parvez, Masood; Pietikäinen, Jarkko; Laitinen, Risto S. (1999). "Syntheses of THF Solutions of SeX2(X = Cl, Br) and a New Route to Selenium Sulfides SenS8−n(n = 1−5): X-ray Crystal Structures of SeCl2(tht)2 and SeCl2·tmtu". Inorganic Chemistry. 38 (18): 4093–4097. doi:10.1021/ic981430h.
  7. ^ a b Back, Thomas G.; Moussa, Ziad (2003). "Diselenium Dichloride". Encyclopedia of Reagents for Organic Synthesis. doi:10.1002/047084289X.rn00201. ISBN 0-471-93623-5.
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selenium_monochloride