Rubidium superoxide or rubidium hyperoxide is a
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 ...
with the
chemical formula
A chemical formula is a way of presenting information about the chemical proportions of atoms that constitute a particular chemical compound or molecule, using chemical element symbols, numbers, and sometimes also other symbols, such as pare ...
. In terms of
oxidation state
In chemistry, the oxidation state, or oxidation number, is the hypothetical Electrical charge, charge of an atom if all of its Chemical bond, bonds to other atoms are fully Ionic bond, ionic. It describes the degree of oxidation (loss of electrons ...
s, the negatively charged
superoxide
In chemistry, a superoxide is a compound that contains the superoxide ion, which has the chemical formula . The systematic name of the anion is dioxide(1−). The reactive oxygen ion superoxide is particularly important as the product of t ...
and positively charged rubidium give it a structural formula of .
Chemistry
It can be created by slowly exposing elemental
rubidium
Rubidium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Rb and atomic number 37. It is a very soft, whitish-grey solid in the alkali metal group, similar to potassium and caesium. Rubidium is the first alkali metal in the group to have ...
to
oxygen
Oxygen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group (periodic table), group in the periodic table, a highly reactivity (chemistry), reactive nonmetal (chemistry), non ...
gas:
:
Like other
alkali metal
The alkali metals consist of the chemical elements lithium (Li), sodium (Na), potassium (K),The symbols Na and K for sodium and potassium are derived from their Latin names, ''natrium'' and ''kalium''; these are still the origins of the names ...
hyperoxides, crystals can also be grown in liquid
ammonia
Ammonia is an inorganic chemical compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the chemical formula, formula . A Binary compounds of hydrogen, stable binary hydride and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinctive pu ...
.
Between 280 and 360 °C, Rubidium superoxide will
decompose, leaving not
rubidium sesquioxide (), but rather
rubidium peroxide ().
:
An even more oxygen rich compound, that of
rubidium ozonide () can be created using .
Properties
Roughly speaking, has a crystal structure similar to tetragonal
calcium carbide
Calcium carbide, also known as calcium acetylide, is a chemical compound with the chemical formula of . Its main use industrially is in the production of acetylene and calcium cyanamide.
The pure material is colorless, while pieces of technica ...
, but is rather distorted due to the
Jahn–Teller effect, which makes the crystal structure less symmetrical.
is stable in dry air, but is extremely
hygroscopic
Hygroscopy is the phenomenon of attracting and holding water molecules via either absorption (chemistry), absorption or adsorption from the surrounding Natural environment, environment, which is usually at normal or room temperature. If water mol ...
.
The compound has been studied as an example of magnetism arising intrinsically from the
p-shell. has been predicted to be a
paramagnetic Mott insulator.
At low temperatures, it transitions to
antiferromagnetic order, with a
Neel temperature of 15 K.
See also
*
Rubidium sesquioxide
*
Rubidium oxide
References
{{Rubidium compounds
Rubidium compounds
Superoxides