Oxygen group element, also called chalcogen, any of the six chemical elements making up Group 16 (VIa) of the periodic classification—namely, oxygen (O), sulfur (S), selenium (Se), tellurium (Te), polonium (Po), and livermorium (Lv). A relationship between the first three members of the group was recognized as early as 1829; tellurium was assigned its place by 1865, and polonium was discovered in 1898. In 2000, Russian and American physicists created livermorium, the sixth member of Group 16, in a particle accelerator.
Natural occurrence and uses
Estimates of the proportions of the various kinds of atoms in the universe put oxygen fourth in abundance, after hydrogen, helium, and neon, but the importance of such a ranking is slight, since hydrogen atoms account for almost 94 percent of the total and helium for most of the rest. About three atoms out of 10,000 are oxygen, but because the mass of an oxygen atom is approximately 16 times that of a hydrogen atom, oxygen constitutes a larger fraction of the mass of the universe, though still only about 0.5 percent. In the regions ordinarily accessible to man, however—i.e., within a few kilometres of the surface of the Earth—oxygen is the most abundant element: in mass, it makes up about 20 percent of the air, about 46 percent of the solid crust of the Earth, and about 89 percent of the water.
Oxygen is represented by the chemical symbol O. In the air, oxygen exists mostly as molecules each made up of two atoms (O2), although small amounts of ozone (O3), in which three atoms of oxygen make up each molecule, are present in the atmosphere. Oxygen is a colourless, odourless, tasteless gas essential to living organisms, being taken up by animals, which convert it to carbon dioxide; plants, in turn, utilize carbon dioxide as a source of carbon and return the oxygen to the atmosphere. Oxygen forms compounds by reaction with practically any other element, as well as by reactions that displace elements from their combinations with each other; in many cases, these processes are accompanied by the evolution of heat and light and in such cases are called combustions.
In cosmic abundance, sulfur ranks ninth among the elements, accounting for only one atom of every 20,000–30,000. Sulfur occurs in the uncombined state as well as in combination with other elements in rocks and minerals that are widely distributed, although it is classified among the minor constituents of the Earth’s crust, in which its proportion is estimated to be between 0.03 and 0.06 percent. On the basis of the finding that certain meteorites contain about 12 percent sulfur, it has been suggested that deeper layers of the Earth contain a much larger proportion. Seawater contains about 0.09 percent sulfur in the form of sulfate. The most important source is underground deposits of very pure sulfur present in domelike geologic structures where the sulfur is believed to have been formed by the action of bacteria upon the mineral anhydrite, in which sulfur is combined with oxygen and calcium. Deposits of sulfur in volcanic regions probably originated from gaseous hydrogen sulfide generated below the surface of the Earth and transformed into sulfur by reaction with the oxygen in the air.
Sulfur exists under ordinary conditions as a pale yellow, crystalline, nonmetallic solid; it is odourless and tasteless, combustible, and insoluble in water. Its chemical symbol is S. It reacts with all metals except gold and platinum, forming sulfides; it also forms compounds with several of the nonmetallic elements. Several million tons of sulfur are produced each year, mostly for the manufacture of sulfuric acid, which is widely used in industry.
The element selenium (symbol Se) is much rarer than oxygen or sulfur, comprising approximately 90 parts per billion of the crust of the Earth. It is occasionally found uncombined, accompanying native sulfur, but is more often found in combination with heavy metals (as copper, mercury, lead, or silver) in a few minerals. The principal commercial source of selenium is as a by-product of copper refining; its major uses are in the manufacture of electronic equipment, in pigments, and in making glass. The gray, metallic form of the element is the most stable under ordinary conditions; this form has the unusual property of greatly increasing in electrical conductivity when exposed to light. Selenium compounds are toxic to animals; plants grown in seleniferous soils may concentrate the element and become poisonous.
Tellurium is a silvery-white element (symbol Te) with properties intermediate between those of metals and nonmetals; it makes up approximately one part per billion of the Earth’s crust. Like selenium, it is less often found uncombined than as compounds of metals such as copper, lead, silver, or gold, and is obtained chiefly as a by-product of the refining of copper or lead. No large use for tellurium has been found.
Polonium (symbol Po) is an extremely rare, radioactive element found in minerals containing uranium. It has some scientific applications as a source of alpha radiation.
Comparison of properties
The elements belonging to Group 16 of the periodic table are characterized by electron configurations in which six electrons occupy the outermost shell. An atom having such an electronic structure tends to form a stable shell of eight electrons by adding two more, producing an ion that has a double negative charge. This tendency to form negatively charged ions, typical of nonmetallic elements, is quantitatively expressed in the properties of electronegativity (the assumption of partial negative charge when present in covalent combination) and electron affinity (the ability of a neutral atom to take up an electron, forming a negative ion). Both these properties decrease in intensity as the elements increase in atomic number and mass proceeding down column 16 of the periodic table. Oxygen has, except for fluorine, the highest electronegativity and electron affinity of any element; the values of these properties then decrease sharply for the remaining members of the group to the extent that tellurium and polonium are regarded as predominantly metallic in nature, tending to lose rather than gain electrons in compound formation.
As is the case within all groups of the table, the lightest element—the one of smallest atomic number—has extreme or exaggerated properties. Oxygen, because of the small size of its atom, the small number of electrons in its underlying shell, and the large number of protons in the nucleus relative to the atomic radius, has properties uniquely different from those of sulfur and the remaining chalcogens. Those elements behave in a reasonably predictable and periodic fashion.
Although even polonium exhibits the oxidation state −2 in forming a few binary compounds of the type MPo (in which M is a metal), the heavier chalcogens do not form the negative state readily, favouring positive states such as +2 and +4. All the elements in the group except oxygen may assume positive oxidation states, with the even values predominating, but the highest value, +6, is not a very stable one for the heaviest members. When this state is achieved, there is a strong driving force for the atom to return to a lower state, quite often to the elemental form. This tendency makes compounds containing Se(VI) and Te(VI) more powerful oxidizing agents than S(VI) compounds. Conversely, sulfides, selenides, and tellurides, in which the oxidation state is −2, are strong reducing agents, easily oxidized to the free elements.
Neither sulfur nor selenium, and most certainly not oxygen, forms purely ionic bonds to a nonmetal atom. Tellurium and polonium form a few compounds that are somewhat ionic; tellurium(IV) sulfate, Te(SO4)2, and polonium(II) sulfate, PoSO4, are examples.
Another feature of the Group 16 elements that parallels trends generally shown in columns of the periodic table is the increasing stability of molecules having the composition X(OH)n as the size of the central atom, X, increases. There is no compound HO−O−OH, in which the central oxygen atom would have a positive oxidation state, a condition that it resists. The analogous sulfur compound HO−S−OH, although not known in the pure state, does have a few stable derivatives in the form of metal salts, the sulfoxylates. More highly hydroxylated compounds of sulfur, S(OH)4 and S(OH)6, also do not exist, not because of sulfur’s resistance to a positive oxidation state but rather because of the high charge density of the S(IV) and S(VI) states (the large number of positive charges relative to the small diameter of the atom), which repels the electropositive hydrogen atoms, and the crowding that attends covalent bonding of six oxygen atoms to sulfur, favouring loss of water:
As the size of the chalcogen atom increases, the stability of the hydroxylated compounds increases: the compound orthotelluric acid, Te(OH)6, is capable of existence.
One of the most unusual properties of this family of elements is that of catenation or the bonding of an atom to another identical atom. Although oxygen shows this property only in the existence of ozone, sulfur is second only to carbon in exhibiting this mode of combination; the chalcogens beyond sulfur show it to diminishing degrees, polonium having no tendency to catenate. This type of bonding is found in the many ring systems of sulfur and selenium as well as in long zigzag chain structures. Catenation also occurs in the sulfanes and the metal polysulfides, compounds that have the formulas H2Sx and M2Sx, in which x may take the values of 2, 3, 4, or more, and M represents a singly charged metal ion. In comparing the catenation of sulfur atoms with that of carbon atoms, it may be noted that the number of molecular species having (−S−)x structures is very large, as is that of the analogous hydrocarbon compounds (−CH2−)x. The analogy between molecules containing rings of sulfur atoms and cyclic hydrocarbons is limited because only S6 and S8 have sufficient stability to permit proper comparison to be made. The general similarity extends to molecules of the form Z(−S−)xZ and Z(−CH2−)xZ, which are represented by compounds in which Z is H, SO3H, and CF3.
Covalent links between sulfur atoms have some of the character of multiple bonds—that is, more than one pair of electrons is shared, at least to some extent. Such interactions may involve overlap of p orbitals of one sulfur atom with d orbitals of another. Although not all investigators feel alike on the subject of d-orbital participation in the bonding of sulfur compounds, partial occupation of these orbitals is consistent with certain properties such as the colours of S8 and S2 molecules, the rigidity of chains and rings of sulfur atoms, and other features of the chemistry of sulfur compounds.
Similarities of sulfur and oxygen are exhibited in certain compounds in which these elements interchange for one another. Examples include sulfates and thiosulfates (such as Na2SO4 and Na2S2O3), phosphates and thiophosphates (containing the ions PO43−, PO3S3−, PO2S23−, POS33−, and PS43−), and a similar series of arsenates and thioarsenates.
Ores of heavy metals often are found as both sulfides, MS, and selenides, MSe, or even with MSxSey structures. The similarity in structures as well as properties accounts for the chalcogens’ being found together in nature.
The number of atoms to which an element of Group 16 can form covalent bonds increases from oxygen to sulfur. An oxygen atom usually combines with two other atoms, as in the compounds water (H2O), oxygen fluoride (OF2), or dimethyl ether (H3C−O−CH3); the unshared pairs of electrons and the partial negative charge on the oxygen atom in most of these compounds allows bonding to another atom, as in the hydronium ion or trimethyloxonium ion:
Heavier members of the group associate or coordinate with other atoms or groups of atoms in numbers commensurate with the size of both the chalcogen and the coordinating group. Thus, sulfur tetrafluoride (SF4) and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) are stable compounds, although sulfur hexaiodide (SI6) is not known because of the very large size of the iodine atom. A closely related property is that of anionic complex formation: there is little evidence for the ion SF62−, but there are ions such as TeCl62−, TeF62−, and PoI62−.
The known isotopes of each of the Group 16 elements are listed in the Table. Consistent with a generality observed throughout the periodic system, isotopes of even mass number are more abundant than those of odd mass number. Each member of the group except polonium has several stable isotopes; oxygen-18 and sulfur-35 have been used as tracers in chemical analysis, and polonium-210 serves as a convenient source of alpha particles (nuclei of helium atoms) for nuclear reactors and nuclear batteries.
|stable isotopes||unstable isotopes|
|oxygen||16||99.757||12||5.8 × 10−22 seconds|
|25||< 50 nanoseconds|
|26||< 40 nanoseconds|
|27||< 260 nanoseconds|
|28||< 100 nanoseconds|
|sulfur||32||94.93||26||< 40 nanoseconds|
|46||> 200 nanoseconds|
|47||> 200 nanoseconds|
|48||> 200 nanoseconds|
|49||< 200 nanoseconds|
|selenium||74||0.89||65||< 50 milliseconds|
|79||2.95 × 105 years|
|82||.83 × 1020 years|
|90||> 150 nanoseconds|
|92||> 300 nanoseconds|
|93||> 300 nanoseconds|
|94||> 300 nanoseconds|
|123||> 6 × 1014 days|
|128||7.7 × 1024 years|
|130||> .79 × 1021 years|
|130||> .79 × 1021 years|
|139||> 150 nanoseconds|
|140||> 300 nanoseconds|
|141||> 300 nanoseconds|
|142||> 300 nanoseconds|
|219||> 300 nanoseconds|
|220||> 300 nanoseconds|