Abstract
Publisher Summary This chapter discusses aqueous solution chemistry of beryllium. Complexes of the beryllium ion are always 4-coordinate with, at most, minor deviations from regular tetrahedral geometry. The tetra-aqua ion is a very stable entity and substitution of one or more water molecules by monodentate ligands is not thermodynamically favorable except with fluoride, hydroxide, and phosphonate ligands. The aqueous solution chemistry of this ion is dominated by the ease of hydrolysis with the formation, principally, of the hydroxo-bridged species [Be3(OH)3(H2O)6] 3+ . Complex formation, then, is a process in which the ligand is usually competing with the hydrolysis reaction as the aqua-ion is present only in strongly acid conditions (pH less than ca. 3) where many ligands are protonated. The only monodentate ligands that can compete with hydrolysis are fluoride and phosphonates. Chelating ligands can form stable complexes with beryllium by virtue of the chelate effect. Greater use of beryllium will require the consideration of its role in the environment, and knowledge of speciation in naturally occurring waters will be needed.
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