What is a #"subvalent oxide"#? Can you give an example?

1 Answer
anor277
May 12, 2017

Is an oxide whose defining element has mixed oxidation states, i.e. it is not fully oxidized..........and are sometimes non-stoichiometric.

Explanation:

A suboxide of carbon found in flames is carbon suboxide, #C_3O_2#, where the carbon oxidation states are #O=stackrel(+II)C=stackrel(0)C=C=O#, where the average carbon oxidation number is #+4/3#, but the individual oxidation states are clearly #stackrel(0)C#, and #stackrel(+II)C#. An even better example of a subvalent oxide is carbon monoxide itself, which features a formal #C(+II)# carbon oxidation state.

On the other hand, for non-suboxide carbon oxides, #CO_2# and #CBr_4#, each carbon has the same oxidation state, which are?

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