In
chemistry
Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...
, antimonite refers to a
salt
In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...
of
antimony
Antimony is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Sb () and atomic number 51. A lustrous grey metal or metalloid, it is found in nature mainly as the sulfide mineral stibnite (). Antimony compounds have been known since ancient t ...
(III), such as NaSb(OH)
4 and NaSbO
2 (meta-antimonite), which can be prepared by reacting
alkali
In chemistry, an alkali (; from the Arabic word , ) is a basic salt of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal. An alkali can also be defined as a base that dissolves in water. A solution of a soluble base has a pH greater than 7.0. The a ...
with
antimony trioxide
Antimony(III) oxide is the inorganic compound with the formula Sb2O3. It is the most important commercial compound of antimony. It is found in nature as the minerals valentinite and senarmontite. Like most polymeric oxides, Sb2O3 dissolves in ...
, Sb
2O
3.
[Egon Wiberg, Arnold Frederick Holleman (2001) ''Inorganic Chemistry'', Elsevier ] These are formally salts of antimonous acid,
Sb(OH)
3, whose existence in solution is dubious. Attempts to isolate it generally form Sb
2O
3·''x''H
2O, antimony(III) oxide hydrate, which slowly transforms into Sb
2O
3.
In
geology
Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...
, the mineral
stibnite
Stibnite, sometimes called antimonite, is a sulfide mineral, a mineral form of antimony trisulfide ( Sb2 S3). It is a soft, metallic grey crystalline solid with an orthorhombic space group. It is the most important source for the metalloid an ...
, Sb
2S
3, is sometimes called antimonite.
Antimonites can be compared to
antimonates, which contain antimony in the +5 oxidation state.
References
Antimony(III) compounds
Pnictogen oxyanions
{{inorganic-compound-stub
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