Hydrides

What are Hydrides?

Hydrides are compounds composed of two different elements, one of them being hydrogen. The following summary is brief and hardly begins to indicate the extent of the world of hydrides. For instance, there are thousands of carbon-hydrogen hydrides.

Methane

Methane (CH₄), for one, is the elemental building block for the entire world of hydrocarbon chemistry. This colorless, odorless gas is also the primary constituent of ordinary natural gas, sometimes called swamp gas. (This name comes from the fact that methane is a natural byproduct of decaying vegetation.)

As a popular household, commercial, and industrial heating fuel, natural gas is a significant economic commodity. As described earlier in this chapter, methane is also the primary ingredient in the commercial production of hydrogen.

Ethane

A close cousin of methane is ethane, C₂H₆. It is also a colorless, odorless gas. Ethane is a common ingredient in natural gas, so much of it is used as a heating fuel. It is also used in the petrochemical industry as a base for many kinds of plastics.

Butane

Butane gas, C₄H₁₀, is also colorless, odorless, and highly volatile. This hydrocarbon has two forms, or isomers. In the instance where the four carbon atoms are connected in a straight chain, the gas is called n-butane, or normal-butane. Its isomer, one where the same four carbon atoms comprise a branched chain, is called isobutane.

Ammonia

Ammonia, NH₃, is a colorless gas that has a distinctive choking odor. It is widely used as a solvent, a refrigerant, and a source of nitrates for chemical fertilizers.

Phosphine

Phosphine, PH₃, is an extremely poisonous gas that has a choking, garlic odor. Current applications include manufacturing processes for certain classes of plastics and flameresistant cotton fabrics.