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dimethylmercury
Sign in to saveAlso known as [HgMe2], Dimethyl mercury
Dimethylmercury is an extremely toxic organomercury compound with the formula (CH3)2Hg. A volatile, flammable, dense and colorless liquid, dimethylmercury is one of the strongest known neurotoxins. Less than 0.1 mL is capable of inducing severe mercury poisoning resulting in death.
Chemical data
- Formula
- C2H6Hg
- Molecular weight
- 230.66 g/mol
- IUPAC name
- dimethylmercury
- SMILES
- C[Hg]C
- InChIKey
- ATZBPOVXVPIOMR-UHFFFAOYSA-N
- Polar surface area
- 0 Ų
- H-bond donors
- 0
- H-bond acceptors
- 0
- Formal charge
- 0
via PubChem
Wikidata facts
- Subclass of
- organomercury
- Has part
- carbon
- Mass
- 232.018
Show 7 more facts
- electric dipole moment
- 0
- canonical SMILES
- C[Hg]C
- chemical formula
- C₂H₆Hg
- boiling point
- 93
- Commons category
- Dimethylmercury
- melting point
- -43
- subject has role
- neurotoxin
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~6 min read
Encyclopedic overview
7 sectionsContents
- Synthesis, structure, and reactions
- Reactivity and physical properties
- Use
- Safety
- Incidents
- References
- External links
Dimethylmercury is an extremely toxic organomercury compound with the formula (CH3)2Hg. A volatile, flammable, dense and colorless liquid, dimethylmercury is one of the strongest known neurotoxins. Less than 0.1 mL is capable of inducing severe mercury poisoning resulting in death.
==Synthesis, structure, and reactions== The compound was one of the earliest organometallics reported, reflecting its considerable stability. The compound was first prepared by George Buckton in 1857 by a reaction of methylmercury iodide with potassium cyanide: 2 CH3HgI + 2 KCN → Hg(CH3)2 + 2 KI + (CN)2 + Hg Later, Edward Frankland discovered that it could be synthesized by treating sodium amalgam with methyl halides: Hg + 2 Na + 2 CH3I → Hg(CH3)2 + 2 NaI It can also be obtained by alkylation of mercuric chloride with methyllithium: HgCl2 + 2 LiCH3 → Hg(CH3)2 + 2 LiCl The molecule adopts a linear structure with Hg–C bond lengths of 2.083 Å.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “dimethylmercury” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.