What happens when tellurium(II) chloride reacts with water?

1 Answer
Stefan V.
Dec 28, 2015

Tellurium(II) chloride is hydrolyzed by water.

Explanation:

Tellurium(II) chloride, "TeCl"_2, will be hydrolyzed by water to form tellurium metal, tellourous acid, "H"_2"TeO"_3, and hydrochloric acid, "HCl".

The balanced chemical equation for this reaction looks like this

2"TeCl"_text(2(s]) + 3"H"_2"O"_text((l]) -> "Te"_text((s]) + "H"_2"TeO"_text(3(aq]) + 4"HCl"_text((aq])

An interesting thing to notice here is that tellurium, which exists in its +2 oxidation state in tellurium(II) chloride, will be reduced to tellurium metal and oxidized to its +4 oxidation state in tellorous acid.

This implies that you're dealing with a disproportionation reaction, which is the name given to a chemical reaction in which the same chemical species undergoes both oxidation and reduction.

I think that the same reaction pattern can be expected for tellurium(II) bromide, "TeBr"_2. The hydrolysis of this compound would produce hydrobromic acid, "HBr", instead of hydrochloric acid

2"TeBr"_text(2(s]) + 3"H"_2"O"_text((l]) -> "Te"_text((s]) + "H"_2"TeO"_text(3(aq]) + 4"HBr"_text((aq])

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