What are hydrides?

1 Answer
Truong-Son N.
Aug 24, 2017

Hydrides, or more likely what you mean is metal hydrides, are compounds containing a metal and an #"H":^(-)# ligand. An #"H":^(-)# is a hydride.

The hydrogen atom has a significantly higher electronegativity than many transition metals, so we can treat the interaction as a complete electron transfer (i.e. ~100% ionic character).

Some example metal hydrides are:

  • #"NaH"# (sodium hydride), used in organic chemistry often to remove an #"H"^(+)# from acetylene for reaction with alkyl halides, a #"C"-"C"# bond-making reaction.

  • #"HCo"("CO")_4# (tetracarbonylhydridocobalt(I)), a trigonal bipyramidal transition metal complex.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/

  • #"LiAlH"_4# (lithium aluminum hydride), a very strong reducing agent used in organic chemistry. It reacts sufficiently with carboxylic acids, amides, and esters, whereas #"NaBH"_4# (sodium borohydride) would be insufficiently reactive.
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