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Water-reactive substances [1] are those that spontaneously undergo a chemical reaction with water, often noted as generating flammable gas. [2] Some are highly reducing in nature. [ 3 ] Notable examples include alkali metals , lithium through caesium , and alkaline earth metals , magnesium through barium .
Lithium hydride is an inorganic compound with the formula Li H.This alkali metal hydride is a colorless solid, although commercial samples are grey. Characteristic of a salt-like (ionic) hydride, it has a high melting point, and it is not soluble but reactive with all protic organic solvents.
Lithium hydroxide is an inorganic compound with the formula LiOH. It can exist as anhydrous or hydrated, and both forms are white hygroscopic solids. They are soluble in water and slightly soluble in ethanol. Both are available commercially. While classified as a strong base, lithium hydroxide is the weakest known alkali metal hydroxide.
Lithium will ignite and burn in oxygen when exposed to water or water vapor. In moist air, lithium rapidly tarnishes to form a black coating of lithium hydroxide (LiOH and LiOH·H 2 O), lithium nitride (Li 3 N) and lithium carbonate (Li 2 CO 3, the result of a secondary reaction between LiOH and CO 2). [48]
Even with this proviso, the electrode potentials of lithium and sodium – and hence their positions in the electrochemical series – appear anomalous. The order of reactivity, as shown by the vigour of the reaction with water or the speed at which the metal surface tarnishes in air, appears to be Cs > K > Na > Li > alkaline earth metals,
Lithium borohydride (LiBH 4) is a borohydride and known in organic synthesis as a reducing agent for esters. Although less common than the related sodium borohydride , the lithium salt offers some advantages, being a stronger reducing agent and highly soluble in ethers, whilst remaining safer to handle than lithium aluminium hydride .
Lithium nitride is prepared by direct reaction of elemental lithium with nitrogen gas: [2] 6 Li + N 2 → 2 Li 3 N. Instead of burning lithium metal in an atmosphere of nitrogen, a solution of lithium in liquid sodium metal can be treated with N 2. Lithium nitride must be protected from moisture as it reacts violently with water to produce ammonia:
Lithium aluminium hydride, commonly abbreviated to LAH, is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula Li[Al H 4] or LiAlH 4. It is a white solid, discovered by Finholt, Bond and Schlesinger in 1947. [ 4 ]