Hydrogen compounds are only required to contain carbon. However, most of them also contain hydrogen, and because it is the carbon-hydrogen bond which gives this class of compounds most of its particular chemical characteristics, carbon-hydrogen bonds are required in some definitions of the word "organic" in chemistry. Millions of hydrocarbons are known, and they are usually formed by complicated synthetic pathways that seldom involve elementary hydrogen. Compounds of hydrogen are often called hydrides, a term that is used fairly loosely. The term "hydride" suggests that the H atom has acquired a negative or anionic character, denoted H, and is used when
Hydrogen astatide Hydrogen astatide Hydrogen astatide, also known as astatine hydride, astatane, or astidohydrogen, is a chemical compound with the chemical formula , consisting of an astatine atom covalently bonded to a hydrogen atom. It thus is a hydrogen halide. This chemical compound can dissolve in water to form hydroastatic acid, which exhibits properties very similar to the other four binary acids, and is in fact the strongest among them. However, it is limited in use due to its ready decomposition into elemental hydrogen and astatine, as well as the short half-life of the various isotopes of astatine. Because the atoms have