Hydrogen telluride
Chemical compound
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Through Hydrogen, Ammonia and Endothermic process
Synthesis
Electrolytic methods have been developed. H2Te can also be prepared by hydrolysis of the telluride derivatives of electropositive metals. The typical hydrolysis is that of aluminium telluride:
- Al2Te3 + 6 H2O → 2 Al(OH)3 + 3 H2Te
Other salts of Te2− such as MgTe and sodium telluride can also be used. Na2Te can be made by the reaction of Na and Te in anhydrous ammonia. The intermediate in the hydrolysis, HTe−
, can be isolated as salts as well. NaHTe can be made by reducing tellurium with NaBH
4.
Hydrogen telluride cannot be efficiently prepared from its constituent elements, in contrast to H2Se.
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Properties
H
2Te is an endothermic compound, degrading to the elements at room temperature:
- H
2Te → H
2 + Te
Light accelerates the decomposition. It is unstable in air, being oxidized to water and elemental tellurium:
- 2 H
2Te + O
2 → 2 H
2O + 2 Te
It is almost as acidic as phosphoric acid (Ka = 8.1×10−3), having a Ka value of about 2.3×10−3. It reacts with many metals to form tellurides.