A tellurite tellurate is a chemical compound or salt that contains tellurite and tellurate anions [TeO3]2- [TeO4 ]2-. These are mixed anion compounds, meaning the compounds are cations that contain one or more anions. Some have third anions. Environmentally, tellurite [TeO3]2- is the more abundant anion due to tellurate's [TeO4 ]2- low solubility limiting its concentration in biospheric waters. Another way to refer to the anions is tellurium's oxyanions, which happen to be relatively stable.
Naming
A tellurite tellurate compound may also be called a tellurate tellurite. Compounds that contain the anions follow basic nomenclature rules, the cation is named first, followed by the anion. As individual ions current IUPAC naming conventions dictate that compounds containing what was conventionally known as the tellurite ion, [TeO3]2-, be named as tellurate (IV) compounds, while other tellurates are labeled tellurate (VI) compounds. Furthering confusion, a number of other tellurate oxyanions exist, including pentoxotellurate, [TeO5]4-, and ditellurate, [Te2O10]8-. Additionally, a number of compounds that do not even include tellurium oxyanions still have "tellurate" in their names, as in the case of octafluoridotellurate, [TeF8]2-.
Production
One way to produce a tellurite tellurate compound is by heating oxides together. Tellurite tellurate compounds can also occur naturally as minerals such as Carlfriesite Ca[Te4 2Te6 O8].
Properties
Tellurite tellurate compounds can crystalize under certain conditions. Monoclinic and orthorhombic dominate crystal structures of the tellurite tellurates. Most compounds are transparent from near ultraviolet to near infrared. Te-O bonds cause absorption lines in infrared. Sodium tellurite exhibit
Related
Related to these are the selenate selenites and sulfate sulfites by varying the chalcogen.
List
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