Metal carbonyl 18-electron complexes is sometimes catalysed by catalytic amounts of oxidants, via electron-transfer. Metal carbonyls react with reducing agents such as metallic sodium or sodium amalgam to give carbonylmetalate (or carbonylate) anions: For iron pentacarbonyl, one obtains the tetracarbonylferrate with loss of CO: Mercury can insert into the metal-metal bonds of some polynuclear metal carbonyls: The CO ligand is often susceptible to attack by nucleophiles. For example, trimethylamine oxide and bistrimethylsilylamide convert CO ligands to CO and CN, respectively. In the "Hieber base reaction", hydroxide ion attacks the CO ligand to give a metallacarboxylic acid, followed by the release of carbon
Mercury pollution in the ocean task. One such research is based nanotechnology. It uses synthesized aluminum oxide nanoparticles (Al2O3) mimicking the coral structures. These structures absorb heavy metal toxins effectively due to high surface/volume ratio and the quality of surface. In nature, it has been long observed corals can absorb heavy metal ions due to its surface structure and this new technique has used to nanotechnology to create “synthetic corals” which may help clean mercury in the ocean. The reactions involved in synthesizing this material are; Another novel material (Patent application: PCT/US15/55205) is still under investigation which looks at the possibility of cleaning mercury pollution