Which is an example of an organic compound of mercury?

Which is an example of an organic compound of mercury?

Organic mercury compounds, sometimes called organomercurials, are those containing covalent bonds between carbon and mercury. Examples are methylmercury, dimethylmercuryand methylmercury chloride (methylmercuric chloride).

What are some mercury compounds?

Mercury exists in three forms: elemental mercury, inorganic mercury compounds (primarily mercuric chloride), and organic mercury compounds (primarily methyl mercury). Acute exposure of humans to very high levels of methyl mercury results in CNS effects such as blindness, deafness, and impaired level of consciousness.

What is organic mercury found in?

Organic mercury, methylmercury is most commonly found in the environment. It is converted from its inorganic form by a biological bacterial process. It bioaccumulates in the environment and is most commonly found in fish. Oral ingestion of fish is the most common route of exposure of mercury to humans.

What is methylmercury used for?

Methylmercury is used in fluorescent lights, batteries, and polyvinyl chloride. It is a common pollutant of air and water.

Who died from mercury?

Karen Wetterhahn
In a tragic end to a story that began last summer, an internationally known research chemist at Dartmouth College, Karen Wetterhahn, died on Sunday of poisoning from a few drops of a potent neurotoxin she spilled on her lab glove 10 months ago.

What is alkyl mercury?

The alkyl compounds of mercury present a significant human health hazard. These compounds, which are readily absorbed through the respiratory or gastrointestinal routes and only slowly eliminated from the body, can cause serious damage to the central nervous system, and may lead to death or permanent major disability.

How is mercury used today?

Mercury is used in fluorescent lamps, thermometers, float valves, dental amalgams, in medicine, for the production of other chemicals, and to make liquid mirrors.

What is the difference between organic and inorganic mercury?

Inorganic mercury compounds are formed when mercury combines with other elements, such as sulfur or oxygen, to form compounds or salts. Inorganic mercury compounds can occur naturally in the environment. Organic mercury compounds are formed when mercury combines with carbon.

What has mercury been used for in the past?

In India and China, it was used as an aphrodisiac and for medical therapy circa 500 BCE. Chinese woman are reported to have consumed mercury as a contraceptive 4,000 years ago. Cinnabar is still used as a sedative in traditional Chinese medicine. By 1000 CE, mercury was used to extract gold by amalgamation.

What is the difference between methylmercury and mercury?

They are totally different materials. Methylmercury is formed in the environment when mercury metal is present. If this material is found in the body, it is usually the result of eating some types of fish or other food. High amounts of methylmercury can harm the nervous system.

What is the difference between inorganic and organic mercury?

How is organic mercury formed?

Organic mercury compounds are formed when mercury combines with carbon. Microscopic organisms in water and soil can convert elemental and inorganic mercury into an organic mercury compound, methylmercury, which accumulates in the food chain. Methylmercury can pass through the placenta, exposing the developing fetus.

What are the uses of mercury in organic chemistry?

Organic mercury compounds are used in organic synthesis and find limited use as fungicides. They are intermediates in certain processes of industrial importance catalyzed by mercury salts, for example, in the synthesis of acetaldehyde by the hydration of acetylene (Kucherov reaction).

What are the different types of mercury compounds?

Mercury Compounds. Hazard Summary. Mercury exists in three forms: elemental mercury, inorganic mercury compounds (primarily mercuric chloride), and organic mercury compounds (primarily methyl mercury). All forms of mercury are quite toxic, and each form exhibits different health effects.

Is Mercury an inorganic or organic compound?

)-and it can be part of both inorganic and organic compounds. (1) Inorganic mercury compounds include mercuric chloride, mercuric sulfide, mercurous chloride. Organic mercury compounds include mercuric acetate, methylmercuric chloride, dimethyl mercury, and phenylmercuric acetate.

Is mercury ionic or covalent?

In organic mercury compounds, mercury forms a covalent bond with carbon. Metallic mercury and its inorganic salts have been known since antiquity, but organic mercury compounds with a covalent bond between the mercuric ion and the organic radical were first described in the 19th century.