SCH 3200
COMPARATIVE STUDY OF S AND P BLOCK ELEMENTS
Course Outline
1. The Periodic Table, Classification of elements in the periodic table into s-,p-,d-,f-and g- block.
Periodicity of properties of s- and p- block elements
2. General trends in physical and chemical properties down the groups, along the periods and
diagonally.
3. Chemistry of s-block elements:
a. Chemistry of alkali metals:-Occurrence, extraction and comparative study of s-blocks elements-
halides, oxides, hydrides, hydroxides, sulphates and carbonates.
b. Chemistry of alkaline earth metals:- Occurrence, extraction and comparative study of s-blocks
elements- halides, oxides, hydrides, hydroxides, sulphates and carbonates.
4. Chemistry of p-block elements:
a. Group 13 elements
b. Group 14 elements
c. Group 15 elements
d. Group 16 elements (Chalcogens)
e. Group 17 elements (Halogens)
f. Group 18 elements (Noble gases)
5. Organometallic chemistry of s-block elements
6. Organometallic chemistry of p-block elements
7. Industrially important elements and compounds on S and P block.
The periodic Table
• The elements in the long form of the periodic table have been divided into four
blocks — s, p, d and f- block elements. This classification is based on the type of
the atomic orbital in which the outermost electron is located.
• The s orbital can accommodate two electrons, while the three p orbitals can
accommodate a maximum of six electrons. Thus there are two groups of s - block
elements — Groups 1 and 2 whose electronic configurations are represented as
[Noble gas] ns1 and [Noble gas] ns2 respectively. There are six groups of p - block
elements — Groups 13 to 18.
• The s and p block elements are collectively called the main – group elements or
representative elements.
• The d and f - block elements are located between the s and p - block elements.
• The s - block elements are located on the left of the periodic table and comprise of
highly reactive metals. The p -block elements comprise of both metals and non-
metals.
Three main type of main group
elements
• The three main type of main group elements are: Metals, Metalloids
and Non metals
• The metallic character decreases from left to right in the periodic table
and increases down a particular group.
• Hence s-block elements comprises of only metals while p- block
elements comprises of metals, metalloids and non metals with
metallic character being more apparent in the heavier members of a
group.
Periodic and Group Trends
• Many physical properties of the elements exhibit a
striking periodicity (that is the physical properties
change in a regular fashion as we go across a period).
• These properties include atomic size and the energies
required to remove electrons from atoms. These
properties also show definite trends as we go down a
particular group in the periodic table.
Understanding some physical
properties
• Atomic Radius (r): This is half the distance between the
centres of neighbouring atoms in the pure element.
Atomic radii are usually measured in picometres, pm.
(Remember a picometre is 10-12 m).
• For instance, the distance between the two chlorine nuclei
in Cl2 is 198 pm. Hence the atomic radius of chlorine is 99
pm.
• Ionic Radius: The ionic radius of an element is its
contribution to the distance between neighbouring ions
in a solid ionic substance. Ionic radii are also measured
in pm.
• The atomic radius of an element is not the same as its
ionic radius. Consider for example the element sodium.
The atomic radius of Na is 180 pm, whereas the ionic
radius of Na+ is 95 pm. Why is there such a large
difference?
• Generally when an element loses its valence electrons
when forming cations, then only the core electrons
remain. These core electrons are closer to the nuclei than
the valence electrons and are thus tightly bound.
• Cations are always considerably smaller than their parent
atoms.
• When we form anions we are adding electrons into the
valence shell. The “extra” electrons are repelled by the
existing electrons (since like charges repel) and the
space taken up by the electrons expands.
• Thus anions are always substantially larger than their
parent atoms.
Ionisation Energy (I ):
• Ionisation Energy (I ): The ionisation energy of an element is the
minimum energy required to remove an electron from the ground
state of a gaseous atom.
X(g) ® X+(g) + e-(g)
• Removing an electron from an atom always requires energy. This
energy is termed the enthalpy of ionisation, or the ionisation
energy. All ionisation energies are positive enthalpies.
• The first ionisation energy of an element, X, is the energy required
to remove an electron from a neutral gaseous atom.
X(g) ® X+(g) + e-(g) I1
• The second ionisation energy of an element X is the energy
required to remove an electron from X+
X+(g) ® X2+(g) + e-(g) I2
• The third ionisation energy is the energy required to do
the following
X2+(g) ® X3+(g) + e-(g) I3
and so on.
• The I2 will be a bigger energy than I1. because the more
positive the species is the more tightly it will hold onto
the remaining electrons. Let’s take aluminium as an
example.
I / kJ mol-1
Al(g) ® Al+(g) + e-(g) 577
Al+(g) ® Al2+(g) + e-(g) 1 820
Al2+(g) ® Al3+(g) + e-(g) 2 740
Al3+(g) ® Al4+(g) + e-(g) 11 600
• We can see that I4 > I3 > I2 > I1 as we would expect. Of
particular mention, however, is the large jump between I3 and I4
i.e. 2 740 kJ mol-1 to 11 600 kJ mol-1. How do we account for
this?
• Whenever dealing with ionization energies, always ask yourself
“which particular electrons are we dealing with?” or, in other
words, what is the electronic configuration of the species
involved?
• For aluminium and its ions we have the following electronic
configurations.
Al: 1s22s22p63s23p1
Al+:1s22s22p63s2
Al2+:1s22s22p63s1
Al3+:1s22s22p6
Al4+: 1s22s22p5
• Therefore when forming Al4+ we had to remove a core
electron, as all the valence electrons have already been
removed. Core electrons are closer to the nucleus and,
consequently, are at much more negative energy than the
valence electrons. It therefore takes much more energy to
remove them from the atom.
• Electron affinity (Ea): The electron affinity of an element
is a measure of the change in energy that occurs when
an electron is added to an atom or an ion of the
element.
X(g) + e-(g) ® X-(g)