Tin(IV) iodide, also known as stannic iodide, is the

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

formula In science, a formula is a concise way of expressing information symbolically, as in a mathematical formula or a ''chemical formula''. The informal use of the term ''formula'' in science refers to the general construct of a relationship betwe ...

. This tetrahedral molecule crystallizes as a bright orange solid that dissolves readily in nonpolar solvents such as

benzene Benzene is an Organic compound, organic chemical compound with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecular formula C6H6. The benzene molecule is composed of six carbon atoms joined in a planar hexagonal Ring (chemistry), ring with one hyd ...

Preparation

The compound is usually prepared by the reaction of

tin Tin is a chemical element; it has symbol Sn () and atomic number 50. A silvery-colored metal, tin is soft enough to be cut with little force, and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, a bar of tin makes a sound, the ...

and

iodine Iodine is a chemical element; it has symbol I and atomic number 53. The heaviest of the stable halogens, it exists at standard conditions as a semi-lustrous, non-metallic solid that melts to form a deep violet liquid at , and boils to a vi ...

: :

Chemical properties

The compound

hydrolyses Hydrolysis (; ) is any chemical reaction in which a molecule of water breaks one or more chemical bonds. The term is used broadly for substitution, elimination, and solvation reactions in which water is the nucleophile. Biological hydrolysis ...

in water. In hydroiodic acid, it reacts to form a rare example of a hexaiodometallate (here hexaiodostannate(IV)): : SnI₄ + 2 I⁻ → nI₆sup>2−

Physical properties

Tin(IV) iodide is an orange solid under standard conditions. It has a cubic crystal structure with the

space group In mathematics, physics and chemistry, a space group is the symmetry group of a repeating pattern in space, usually in three dimensions. The elements of a space group (its symmetry operations) are the rigid transformations of the pattern that ...

''Pa'' (space group no. 205), the lattice parameter a = 1226 pm and eight formula units per

unit cell In geometry, biology, mineralogy and solid state physics, a unit cell is a repeating unit formed by the vectors spanning the points of a lattice. Despite its suggestive name, the unit cell (unlike a unit vector In mathematics, a unit vector i ...

. This corresponds approximately to a cubic close packing of iodine atoms in which 1/8 of all tetrahedral gaps are occupied by tin atoms. This leads to discrete tetrahedral SnI₄ molecules.

References

{{Iodides Tin(IV) compounds Iodides Metal halides

Preparation

Chemical properties

Physical properties

See also

References