Uranium(IV) iodide, also known as uranium tetraiodide, is an
inorganic
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 chemist ...
chemical compound
A chemical compound is a chemical substance composed of many identical molecules (or molecular entities) containing atoms from more than one chemical element held together by chemical bonds. A molecule consisting of atoms of only one element ...
. It is a salt of
uranium
Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...
in
oxidation state
In chemistry, the oxidation state, or oxidation number, is the hypothetical charge of an atom if all of its bonds to different atoms were fully ionic. It describes the degree of oxidation (loss of electrons) of an atom in a chemical compound. C ...
+4 and iodine.
Preparation
Uranium tetraiodide can be prepared from the reaction between uranium and an excess of iodine.
Properties
Uranium tetraiodide is a black solid and forms needle-like crystals. Upon heating, it dissociates into
uranium triiodide and iodine gas.
It crystallizes in the monoclinic crystal system, space group C2/c.
References
Uranium(IV) compounds
Iodides
Actinide halides
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