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(I) fluoride Mercury(I) fluoride Mercury(I) fluoride or mercurous fluoride is the chemical compound composed of mercury and fluorine with the formula HgF. It consists of small yellow cubic crystals, which turn black when exposed to light. Mercury(I) fluoride is prepared by the reaction of mercury(I) carbonate with hydrofluoric acid: When added to water, mercury(I) fluoride hydrolyzes to elemental liquid mercury, mercury(II) oxide, and hydrofluoric acid: It can be used in the Swarts reaction to convert alkyl halides into alkyl fluorides: In common with other Hg(I) (mercurous) compounds which contain linear X-Hg-Hg-X units, HgF contains linear FHgF units with an Hg-Hg bond length