Cacodyl
Overview
Cadet's fuming liquid
Cadet's fuming liquid was the first organometallic compound to be synthesized. In 1760, the French chemist Louis Claude Cadet de Gassicourt synthesized a red liquid by the reaction of potassium acetate with arsenic trioxide....
" (after the French chemist Louis Claude Cadet de Gassicourt
Louis Claude Cadet de Gassicourt
Louis Claude Cadet de Gassicourt was a French chemist who synthesised the first organometalic compound.He obtained a red liquid by the reaction of potassium acetate with arsenic trioxide...
) (CH3)2As—As(CH3)2 is a poisonous oily liquid with a garlicky odor. Cacodyl undergoes spontaneous combustion in dry air.
Cacodyl oxide is prepared by the reaction of potassium acetate
Potassium acetate
Potassium acetate is the potassium salt of acetic acid.-Preparation:It can be prepared by reacting a potassium-containing base such as potassium hydroxide or potassium carbonate with acetic acid:...
with arsenic trioxide
Arsenic trioxide
Arsenic trioxide is the inorganic compound with the formula As2O3. This commercially important oxide of arsenic is the main precursor to other arsenic compounds, including organoarsenic compounds. Approximately 50,000 tonnes are produced annually...
.
- 4 CH3CO2K + As2O3 → As2(CH3)4 + 2 K2CO3 + 2 CO2
A subsequent reduction or disproportionation
Disproportionation
Disproportionation, also known as dismutation is used to describe a specific type of redox reaction in which a species is simultaneously reduced and oxidized so as to form two different products....
of the substance under the reaction conditions yields a mixture of several methylated arsenic compounds.
A far better synthesis was developed which started from the dimethyl arsine chloride and dimethyl arsine.
- As(CH3)2Cl + As(CH3)2H → As2(CH3)4 + HCl
Jöns Jakob Berzelius
Jöns Jakob Berzelius
Jöns Jacob Berzelius was a Swedish chemist. He worked out the modern technique of chemical formula notation, and is together with John Dalton, Antoine Lavoisier, and Robert Boyle considered a father of modern chemistry...
coined the name kakodyl (later changed to cacodyl) for the dimethylarsinyl radical, (CH3)2As, from the Greek kakodes (evil-smelling) and hyle (matter).
It was investigated by Edward Frankland
Edward Frankland
Sir Edward Frankland, KCB, FRS was a chemist, one of the foremost of his day. He was an expert in water quality and analysis, and originated the concept of combining power, or valence, in chemistry. He was also one of the originators of organometallic chemistry.-Biography:Edward Frankland was born...
and Robert Bunsen
Robert Bunsen
Robert Wilhelm Eberhard Bunsen was a German chemist. He investigated emission spectra of heated elements, and discovered caesium and rubidium with Gustav Kirchhoff. Bunsen developed several gas-analytical methods, was a pioneer in photochemistry, and did early work in the field of organoarsenic...
and is considered one of the earliest organometallic compounds ever discovered.
