Amalgam (Chemistry)

An amalgam is a substance formed by the reaction of some other substance with mercury. Almost all metals can form amalgams with mercury, notable exceptions being iron and platinum. Silver-mercury amalgams are important in dentistry, and gold-mercury amalgam is used in the extraction of gold from ore. For the alkali metals, amalgamation is distinctly exothermic, and distinct chemical forms can be identified, such as KHg and Khg2. KHg is a gold-coloured compound with a melting point of 178 °C, and KHg2 a silver-coloured compound with a melting point of 278 °C. These amalgams are very sensitive to air and water, but can be worked with under dry nitrogen. The Hg-Hg distance is around 300 picometres, Hg-K around 358 pm. Phases K5Hg7 and KHg11 are also known; rubidium, strontium and barium undecamercurides are known and isostructural. Sodium amalgam (NaHg2) has a different structure, with the mercury atoms forming hexagonal layers, and the sodium atoms a linear chain which fits into the holes in the hexagonal layers, but the potassium atom is too large for this structure to work in KHg2.