The chalcogens (ore forming) (/ˈkælkədʒənz/KAL-kə-jənz) are the chemical elements in group 16 of the periodic table.[1] This group is also known as the oxygen family. Group 16 consists of the elements oxygen (O), sulfur (S), selenium (Se), tellurium (Te), and the radioactive elements polonium (Po) and livermorium (Lv).[2] Often, oxygen is treated separately from the other chalcogens, sometimes even excluded from the scope of the term "chalcogen" altogether, due to its very different chemical behavior from sulfur, selenium, tellurium, and polonium. The word "chalcogen" is derived from a combination of the Greek word khalkόs (χαλκός) principally meaning copper (the term was also used for bronze, brass, any metal in the poetic sense, ore and coin),[3] and the Latinized Greek word genēs, meaning born or produced.[4][5]
Sulfur has been known since antiquity, and oxygen was recognized as an element in the 18th century. Selenium, tellurium and polonium were discovered in the 19th century, and livermorium in 2000. All of the chalcogens have six valence electrons, leaving them two electrons short of a full outer shell. Their most common oxidation states are −2, +2, +4, and +6. They have relatively low atomic radii, especially the lighter ones.[6]
All of the naturally occurring chalcogens have some role in biological functions, either as a nutrient or a toxin. Selenium is an important nutrient (among others as a building block of selenocysteine) but is also commonly toxic.[7] Tellurium often has unpleasant effects (although some organisms can use it), and polonium (especially the isotope polonium-210) is always harmful as a result of its radioactivity.
Sulfur has more than 20 allotropes, oxygen has nine, selenium has at least eight, polonium has two, and only one crystal structure of tellurium has so far been discovered. There are numerous organic chalcogen compounds. Not counting oxygen, organic sulfur compounds are generally the most common, followed by organic selenium compounds and organic tellurium compounds. This trend also occurs with chalcogen pnictides and compounds containing chalcogens and carbon group elements.
Oxygen is generally obtained by separation of air into nitrogen and oxygen.[8] Sulfur is extracted from oil and natural gas. Selenium and tellurium are produced as byproducts of copper refining. Polonium is most available in naturally occurring actinide-containing materials. Livermorium has been synthesized in particle accelerators. The primary use of elemental oxygen is in steelmaking.[citation needed] Sulfur is mostly converted into sulfuric acid, which is heavily used in the chemical industry.[7] Selenium's most common application is glassmaking. Tellurium compounds are mostly used in optical disks, electronic devices, and solar cells. Some of polonium's applications are due to its radioactivity.[2]
^House, James E.; House, James Evan (2008). Inorganic chemistry. Amsterdam Heidelberg: Elsevier Academic Press. p. 523. ISBN 978-0-12-356786-4.
^ abEmsley, John (2011). Nature's Building Blocks: An A-Z Guide to the Elements (New ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. pp. 375–383, 412–415, 475–481, 511–520, 529–533, 582. ISBN 978-0-19-960563-7.
^The New Shorter Oxford Dictionary. Oxford University Press. 1993. p. 368. ISBN 978-0-19-861134-9.
^"chalcogen". Merriam-Webster. 2013. Retrieved November 25, 2013.
^Bouroushian, M. (2010). Electrochemistry of Metal Chalcogenides. Monographs in Electrochemistry. Bibcode:2010emc..book.....B. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-03967-6. ISBN 978-3-642-03967-6.
^Cite error: The named reference Jackson2002 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ abCite error: The named reference The Elements was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"Saiba como é produzido o oxigênio hospitalar". Conselho Federal de Química. February 18, 2021. Archived from the original on June 30, 2022. Retrieved December 23, 2023.
The chalcogens (ore forming) (/ˈkælkədʒənz/ KAL-kə-jənz) are the chemical elements in group 16 of the periodic table. This group is also known as the oxygen...
In chemistry, a chalcogen bond (ChB) is an attractive interaction in the family of σ-hole interactions, along with halogen bonds. Electrostatic, charge-transfer...
Hydrogen chalcogenides (also chalcogen hydrides or hydrogen chalcides) are binary compounds of hydrogen with chalcogen atoms (elements of group 16: oxygen...
one chalcogen anion and at least one more electropositive element. Although all group 16 elements of the periodic table are defined as chalcogens, the...
Cobalt is a chemical element; it has symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined...
mononuclear parent hydride of a pnictogen (group 15 of the periodic table), chalcogen (group 16), or halogen (group 17). The oldest-known onium ion, and the...
(SeOCl2)—have been used as specialty solvents. Analogous to the behavior of other chalcogens, selenium forms hydrogen selenide, H2Se. It is a strongly odiferous, toxic...
Wickleder, Mathias S. (2007). Devillanova, Francesco A. (ed.). Handbook of chalcogen chemistry: new perspectives in sulfur, selenium and tellurium. Royal Society...
(also known as Methanedichalcones) are chemical compounds of carbon and chalcogen elements. They have the general chemical formula CZ2, where Z = O, S,...
in group 16 as the heaviest chalcogen, but it has not been confirmed to behave as the heavier homologue to the chalcogen polonium. Livermorium is calculated...
pyrite-type compounds, where monovalent chalcogen ions reside on C3 lattice sites. It was found that chalcogen ions have to be modeled by ellipsoidal charge...
diminishes the reactivity of the elements. Molten lead reacts with the chalcogens to give lead(II) chalcogenides. Lead metal resists sulfuric and phosphoric...
ellipsoidal deformations have been shown to occur for sulfur ions and chalcogen ions in pyrite-type compounds. Atomic dimensions are thousands of times...
is chemically related to selenium and sulfur, all three of which are chalcogens. It is occasionally found in its native form as elemental crystals. Tellurium...
sulfide is a chemical compound with the formula H2S. It is a colorless chalcogen-hydride gas, and is poisonous, corrosive, and flammable, with trace amounts...
group 14 element, known as a tetrel, and a group 16 element, known as a chalcogen. The group 14 elements are carbon, silicon, germanium, tin, lead and flerovium...
chemical element; it has symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing...
as nitrogen in ammonia. Two lone pairs can be found with atoms in the chalcogen group, such as oxygen in water. The halogens can carry three lone pairs...
although serious doubts have been cast on the existence of PI5. Mixed chalcogen halides also exist. In the gas phase the phosphorus pentahalides have...
may be in the same or another molecule. Closely related to halogen and chalcogen bonding, pnictogen bonds are a form of non-covalent interaction which...
02 (abridged) Sulfur in the periodic table Atomic number (Z) 16 Group group 16 (chalcogens) Period period 3 Block p-block Electron configuration [Ne] 3s2 3p4 Electrons...
(rock-loving), siderophile (iron-loving), chalcophile (sulfide ore-loving or chalcogen-loving), and atmophile (gas-loving) or volatile (the element, or a compound...
trivalent metal ion like chromiumIII, and/or sulfur is replaced by another chalcogen like selenium. The most common of these analogs is chrome alum KCr(SO...
Gold chalcogenides are compounds formed between gold and one of the chalcogens, elements from group 16 of the periodic table: oxygen, sulfur, selenium...
selenocysteine are all isoelectronic to each other. They differ by which specific chalcogen is present at one location in the side-chain. CH 3COCH 3 (acetone) and...