Mercury selenide

Mercury(II) selenide
Names
IUPAC name
Mercury selenide
Identifiers
3D model (JSmol)
ChemSpider
ECHA InfoCard 100.039.903
EC Number
  • 243-910-5
  • InChI=1S/Hg.Se
    Key: YQMLDSWXEQOSPP-UHFFFAOYSA-N
  • InChI=1S/Hg.Se
  • [Se]=[Hg]
Properties
HgSe
Molar mass 279.55 g/mol
Appearance grey-black solid
Odor odorless
Density 8.266 g/cm3
Melting point 1,000 °C; 1,830 °F; 1,270 K
insoluble
Structure
sphalerite
Thermochemistry
178 J kg−1 K−1
247 kJ/mol
Hazards
GHS labelling:[1]
Danger
H300, H310, H330, H373, H410
P260, P262, P264, P270, P271, P273, P280, P284, P301+P310, P302+P350, P304+P340, P310, P314, P320, P321, P322, P330, P361, P363, P391, P403+P233, P405, P501
NFPA 704 (fire diamond)
3
0
1
Flash point Non-flammable
Related compounds
Other anions
Mercury oxide
Mercury sulfide
Mercury telluride
Other cations
Zinc selenide
Cadmium selenide
Except where otherwise noted, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C [77 °F], 100 kPa).
N verify (what is YN ?)
Infobox references

Mercury selenide (HgSe; sometimes mercury(II) selenide) is a chemical compound of mercury and selenium. It is a grey-black crystalline solid semi-metal with a sphalerite structure. The lattice constant is 0.608 nm.

HgSe occurs naturally as the mineral Tiemannite, and is a component of the "intimate mixture" of HgSe and Se known as HgSe2.[2]

Along with other II-VI compounds, colloidal nanocrystals of HgSe can be formed.

Applications

  • Selenium is used in filters in some steel plants to remove mercury from exhaust gases. The solid product formed is HgSe.
  • HgSe can be used as an ohmic contact to wide-gap II-VI semiconductors such as zinc selenide or zinc oxide.

Toxicity

Toxic hydrogen selenide fumes can be evolved on exposure to acids. HgSe is non-toxic as long as it is not ingested due to its insolubility.

HgSe is forms large insoluble clusters with proteins during digestion, and a very precise co-administration of selenium during mercury ingestion has shown to reduce the resulting intoxication. The effect is too finicky for any practical use, but selenium's ability to complex mercury has been proposed to explain why relatively high mercury levels do not intoxicate deep-sea fish.[3]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Mercury selenide (HgSe)". pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
  2. ^ Park, Chang-Woo; Smith, Donna M.; Pell, Michael A.; Ibers, James A. (1997). "Different Products from the Chemical and Electrochemical Reduction of 'HgSe2': [K(2.2.2-cryptand)]2[HgSe2] and [PPh4]2[Hg(Se4)2]·en". Inorg. Chem. 36 (5): 942–943. doi:10.1021/ic960786v.
  3. ^ Watanabe, C. (2002). "Modification of Mercury Toxicity by Selenium: Practical Importance?". The Tohoku Journal of Experimental Medicine. 196 (2): 71–77. doi:10.1620/tjem.196.71. PMID 12498318.