MERCUROUS CHLORIDE

MERCUROUS CHLORIDE

CAS NO.: 10112-91-1
EC/LIST.: 233-307-5

Mercurous Chloride is the chemical compound with the formula Hg2Cl2. 
Also known as the mineral calomel (a rare mineral) or mercurous chloride, this dense white or yellowish-white, odorless solid is the principal example of a mercury(I) compound. 
Mercurous Chloride is a component of reference electrodes in electrochemistry

Mercurous chloride (mercury [I] chloride), Hg2Cl2, is a white powder that is nearly insoluble in water. 
Mercurous Chloride is also called calomel.
Mercurous chloride reacts with ammonia to produce a black solid, and this reaction has been widely used in the identification of dissolved mercury ions in water sources. 
Mercurous chloride finds uses as a purgative (laxative), and in the preparation of insecticides and medicines. 
Mercurous Chloride has also been used to treat infections of intestinal worms and as a fungicide (a substance used to kill fungi and prevent fungal growth) in agriculture.

Mercurous chloride has been most often used as a treatment for intestinal worms. 
Mercurous Chloride the past, large doses were often used to stimulate the intestines and remove blockages, although it is rarely used in medicine today due to the toxicity of mercury. 
When Mercurous Chloride is used as a laxative, if the treatment fails to work, large doses of other laxatives and water must be used to insure that no mercury is allowed to accumulate in the body. 
Mercury toxicity often results in severe neurological damage (vapors of mercury are far more dangerous than solid mercury compounds, although all mercury compounds are considered highly poisonous). 
Because of the extremely low solubility of mercurous chloride in water, very little is usually absorbed by the body, making it safer than most people would expect.

mercurous chloride, mercury (I) chloride, or calomel, chemical compound, Hg2Cl2, a white crystalline powder, very slightly soluble in water. 
Mercurous Chloride was once used medicinally as a purgative, cathartic, liver stimulant, and to eliminate parasitic worms, but is rarely so used today because it is readily decomposed into metallic mercury and the very poisonous mercuric chloride on exposure to sunlight or if heated in the presence of moisture. 
Mercurous chloride is a less dangerous poison than mercuric chloride chiefly because it is much less soluble; it is highly toxic if retained in the body. 
Mercurous chloride is prepared by sublimation from a mixture of mercury and Mercurous Chloride or by precipitation from a mercurous chloride solution on adding chloride ion. 
Mercurous Chloride is also found in nature as horn quicksilver. 
The calomel electrode, often used as a reference in determining electric potentials and for measuring the pH of solutions, contains mercurous chloride, mercury metal, and potassium chloride solutio.

Mercurous chloride (mercury [I] chloride), Hg2Cl2, is a white powder that is nearly insoluble in water . 
Mercurous Chloride is also called calomel.
Mercurous chloride reacts with ammonia to produce a black solid, and this reaction has been widely used in the identification of dissolved mercury ions in water sources. 
Mercurous chloride finds uses as a purgative (laxative), and in the preparation of insecticides and medicines. 
Mercurous Chloride has also been used to treat infections of intestinal worms and as a fungicide (a substance used to kill fungi and prevent fungal growth) in agriculture.

Mercurous chloride has been most often used as a treatment for intestinal worms. 
In the past, large doses were often used to stimulate the intestines and remove blockages, although it is rarely used in medicine today due to the toxicity of mercury. 
When it is used as a laxative, if the treatment fails to work, large doses of other laxatives and water must be used to insure that no mercury is allowed to accumulate in the body. 
Mercury toxicity often results in severe neurological damage (vapors of mercury are far more dangerous than solid mercury compounds, although all mercury compounds are considered highly poisonous). 
Because of the extremely low solubility of mercurous chloride in water, very little is usually absorbed by the body, making it safer than most people would expect.

calomel (Hg2Cl2), also called mercurous chloride or mercury(I) chloride, a very heavy, soft, white, odourless, and tasteless halide mineral formed by the alteration of other mercury minerals, such as cinnabar or amalgams. 
Calomel is found together with native mercury, cinnabar, calcite, limonite, and clay at Moschellandsberg, Germany; Zimapán, Mexico; and Brewster county, Texas, U.S. 

Once the most popular of cathartics, calomel has been used in medicine since the 16th century. 
The recognition of its potential toxicity (because of disassociation into mercury and mercuric chloride), together with the development of superior and safer cathartics, led to a decline in its use in internal medicine. 
Mercurous Chloride has found application in certain insecticides and fungicides, however. 
The compound is also used in the construction of calomel electrodes for potentiometric titration (a chemical technique designed to measure the potential between two electrical conductors in a medium such as an electrolyte solution).

Mercuric chloride appears as an odorless white crystalline solid. Density 5.4 g / cm3. Melting point 277°C. 
Slightly volatile at ordinary temperatures. 
Can be sublimed unchanged. 
Corrosive to the mucous membranes. 
Toxic by inhalation (dusts, etc.), ingestion, and skin absorption. 
Used in photography, disinfectants, wood preservatives, fungicides.

Mercurous Chloride (HgCl2) is a highly toxic compound that volatizes slightly at ordinary temperature and appreciably at 100 degrees C. 
Mercurous Chloride is corrosive to mucous membranes and used as a topical antiseptic and disinfectant. 
Mercuric chloride was used to disinfect wounds by Arab physicians in the Middle Ages but modern medicine has since deemed it unsafe for use.

Mercurous Chloride is the chemical compound with the formula Hg2Cl2. 
Also known as calomel or mercurous chloride, this dense white or yellowish-white, odorless solid is the principal example of a mercury(I) compound. 
Mercurous Chloride is a component of reference electrodes in electrochemistry

Mercurous chloride is employed extensively in electrochemistry, taking advantage of the ease of its oxidation and reduction reactions. 
The calomel electrode is a reference electrode, especially in older publications.
Over the past 50 years, it has been superseded by the silver/silver chloride (Ag/AgCl) electrode. 
Although the mercury electrodes have been widely abandoned due to the dangerous nature of mercury, many chemists believe they are still more accurate and are not dangerous as long as they are handled properly. 
The differences in experimental potentials vary little from literature values. 
Other electrodes can vary by 70 to 100 millivolts.

Mercurous Chloride (HgCl2) is a highly toxic compound that volatizes slightly at ordinary temperature and appreciably at 100 degrees C. 
Mercurous Chloride is corrosive to mucous membranes and used as a topical antiseptic and disinfectant. 
Mercuric chloride was used to disinfect wounds by Arab physicians in the Middle Ages but modern medicine has since deemed it unsafe for use.

HgCl2 is a chemical compound formed by mercury and chlorine with a chemical name Mercurous Chloride . 
Mercurous Chloride is also called Mercurous Chloride, or Mercury dichloride, or Dichloromercury. 
Mercurous Chloride is highly a toxic compound and is corrosive to mucous membranes.

Mercurous Chloride is widely used as a disinfectant, antiseptic, fungicide, wood preservative.

Mercurous Chloride is odourless crystalline solid white in colour. 
Mercurous Chloride is a triatomic molecule where a mercury atom is bonded with two chlorines. 
Mercurous Chloride dissolves in water.

Mercurous Chloride is obtained by treating chlorine with mercury (I) chloride or mercury by the and adding hydrochloric acid (HCl) to a hot, concentrated solution of nitrate:

HgNO3 + 2 HCl → HgCl2 + H2O + NO2

Heating a mixture of HgSO4 and sodium chloride (NaCl) gives volatile Mercurous Chloride, which forms small rhombic crystals. 
As the temperature increases its solubility increases.

Mercuric chloride is primarily used as a catalyst for the conversion of acetylene to vinyl chloride, which is the precursor of polyvinyl chloride. 
Occasionally, mercuric chloride is used to form an amalgam of metals like aluminum. 
Chemicals and analytical samples can use mercuric chloride as a stabilizing agent.

Mercurous Chloride are the two chemical compounds that react together to form HgCl₂ with the chemical name Mercuric chloride. 
Mercurous Chloride is also referred to as Mercury ii chloride or Mercury (II) chloride or Dichlor Mercury. 
Mercurous Chloride is a compound that is highly toxic and the compound is also corrosive to the mucous membranes. 
The compound is mostly used as a wood preservative, disinfectant, fungicide, and antiseptic. By colour, Mercury dichloride is white and odourless in smell. 
Mercurous Chloride is a crystalline solid. 
Mercurous Chloride consists of a mercury atom that is bonded with two chlorines due to which is known as a triatomic molecule. 
The molecule gets dissolved in water.

Mercurous chloride is an acoustical optical material with an unusually low acoustic velocity and high acousto-optical figure of merit, which makes it an interesting candidate for optical delay lines and Bragg cells for optical signal processors. 
Mercurous Chloride also has a broad range of spectral transmissivity which makes it an ideal candidate for wide band acoustically tuned optical filter (ATOF) applications. 
Single crystals of this material can be readily grown in normal gravity by closed-tube physical vapor transport, but the crystals appear to contain structural inhomogeneities which degrade the optical performance. 
The nature of these defects is not known, but their degree appears to correlate with the Rayleigh number that characterizes their growth; hence, it is suspected that uncontrolled convection may play a role in the defect structure. 
This prompted a space flight experiment to determine if these defects could be further reduced by virtually eliminating the buoyancy-driven convective flows which are always present to a degree in normal gravity. 
Single crystals of mercurous chloride (Hg2Cl2) were grown in the Space Experiment Facility (SEF) transparent furnace developed by the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Consortium for Materials Development in Space. 
The Northrop- Grumman Science and Technology Center provided the highly purified starting material and analyzed the crystals that were grown. 
This experiment was flown on Spacehab 4 (STS-77) in May 1996. 
The SEF is a transparent furnace which allowed the progress of the growth to be recorded by video. 
Extensive furnace profiling and modeling has been carried out to relate the growth front location to the thermal environment and to the crystal quality. 
The results of the flight experiment as well as the ground control experiments are presented.

Mercurous chloride (Hg2Cl2), also known as Calomel, is a typical mercury-containing mineral found in nature. 
In this work, the leaching behaviour of pure mercurous chloride dissolved in pure water and in thiosulfate solution was investigated. 
The mercurous chloride hardly dissolved in sulfuric acid solution at pH of 3 and pure water at pH of 6.4, with the corresponding maximum Hg extraction percentage at 3.1 and 7.5% respectively. 
However, the Hg extraction percentage increased to 45.8% in sodium hydroxide solution at pH of 11.2. 
The mercury extraction percentage reached a high of 62.6% in thiosulfate solution, and the leaching kinetics results show that the activation energy is 6.6 kJ/mol. 
This study indicates that the thiosulfate solution can efficiently extract mercury from mercurous chloride.

Mercurous Chloride is an excellent water soluble crystalline Mercury source for uses compatible with chlorides. 
Chloride compounds can conduct electricity when fused or dissolved in water. 
Chloride materials can be decomposed by electrolysis to chlorine gas and the metal. 
They are formed through various chlorination processes whereby at least one chlorine anion (Cl-) is covalently bonded to the relevant metal or cation. 
Ultra high purity and proprietary formulations can be prepared. 
The chloride ion controls fluid equilibrium and pH levels in metabolic systems. 
They can form either inorganic or organic compounds. 
Mercurous Chloride is generally immediately available in most volumes. 
Ultra high purity, high purity, submicron and nanopowder forms may be considered. 
American Elements produces to many standard grades when applicable, including Mil Spec (military grade); ACS, Reagent and Technical Grade; Food, Agricultural and Pharmaceutical Grade; Optical Grade, USP and EP/BP (European Pharmacopoeia/British Pharmacopoeia) and follows applicable ASTM testing standards. 
Typical and custom packaging is available. 
Additional technical, research and safety (MSDS) information is available as is a Reference Calculator for converting relevant units of measurement

Melting point:400 °C (subl.)(lit.)
Boiling point:383°C
Density 7.15
vapor pressure 1.7 mm Hg at 236 °C
storage temp. Poison room
form powder
Specific Gravity7.15
color White
OdorOdorless
Water Solubility Soluble in (0.002g/L )water.
Sensitive Moisture & Light Sensitive
Merck 14,5894

The name calomel is thought to come from the Greek καλός "beautiful", and μέλας "black"; or καλός and μέλι "honey" from its sweet taste.
The "black" name (somewhat surprising for a white compound) is probably due to its characteristic disproportionation reaction with ammonia, which gives a spectacular black coloration due to the finely dispersed metallic mercury formed. 
Mercurous Chloride is also referred to as the mineral horn quicksilver or horn mercury. 

Calomel was taken internally and used as a laxative, for example to treat George III in 1801, and disinfectant, as well as in the treatment of syphilis, until the early 20th century. 
Until fairly recently,[when?] it was also used as a horticultural fungicide, most notably as a root dip to help prevent the occurrence of clubroot amongst crops of the family Brassicaceae. 

Mercury became a popular remedy for a variety of physical and mental ailments during the age of "heroic medicine". 
Mercurous Chloride was used by doctors in America throughout the 18th century, and during the revolution, to make patients regurgitate and release their body from "impurities". 
Benjamin Rush was one particular well-known advocate of mercury in medicine and used calomel to treat sufferers of yellow fever during its outbreak in Philadelphia in 1793. 
Calomel was given to patients as a purgative or cathartic until they began to salivate and was often administered to patients in such great quantities that their hair and teeth fell out. 

Shortly after yellow fever struck Philadelphia, the disease broke out in Jamaica. 
A war of words erupted in the press concerning the best treatment for yellow fever:
bleeding; or calomel. 
Anecdotal evidence indicates calomel was more effective than bleeding. 

Mormon prophet Joseph Smith's eldest brother 
Alvin Smith died in 1823 from mercury poisoning from calomel. 

Lewis and Clark brought along the wonder drug of the day, Mercurous Chloride (otherwise known as calomel), as a pill, a tincture, and an ointment. 
Modern researchers used that same mercury, found deep in latrine pits, to retrace the locations of their respective locations and campsites. 

Mercurous chloride forms by the reaction of elemental mercury and mercuric chloride:

Hg + HgCl2 → Hg2Cl2
Mercurous Chloride can be prepared via metathesis reaction involving aqueous mercury(I) nitrate using various chloride sources including NaCl or HCl.

2 HCl + Hg2(NO3)2 → Hg2Cl2 + 2 HNO3
Ammonia causes Hg2Cl2 to disproportionate:

Hg2Cl2 + 2 NH3 → Hg + Hg(NH2)Cl + NH4Cl

IUPAC NAME :

chloromercury

SYNONYMS:

Mercury(II) chloride  
231-299-8  
51312-24-4  
7487-94-7  
Dichlorure de mercure  
HgCl2  
Mercuric chloride  
Mercurous chloride
MERCURY CHLORIDE
Mercury chloromercurate(II)