lithium

Examples of lithium in the following topics:

• The Lithium-Ion Battery

  • Lithium-ion batteries are common in consumer electronics.
  • Lithium iron phosphate (LFP), lithium manganese oxide (LMO), and lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (LiNMC) batteries offer lower energy density but longer lives and inherent safety.
  • The electrolyte is a lithium salt in an organic solvent.
  • The anode is generally one of three materials: a layered oxide (such as lithium cobalt oxide), a polyanion (such as lithium iron phosphate), or a spinel (such as lithium manganese oxide).
  • In a lithium-ion battery, the lithium ions are transported to and from the cathode or anode.

• Other Rechargeable Batteries

  • Different types include lead-acid, nickel-cadmium (NiCd), nickel-metal hydride (NiMH), lithium-ion (Li-ion), lithium-ion polymer (LiPo), and rechargeable alkaline batteries.
  • The lithium-ion battery is a family of rechargeable batteries in which lithium ions move from the negative electrode to the positive electrode during discharge, and back when charging.
  • The negative electrode of a conventional lithium-ion cell is made from carbon.
  • The positive electrode is a metal oxide, and the electrolyte is a lithium salt in an organic solvent.
  • Their primary distinction from lithium-ion batteries is that their lithium salt electrolyte is not held in an organic solvent.

• Strong Bases

• Main Group Organometallic Compounds

  • All these metals have strong or moderate negative reduction potentials, with lithium and magnesium being the most reactive.
  • This can also be a problem when allyl or benzyl halides are converted to Grignard or lithium reagents.
  • Grignard and alkyl lithium reagents are not distillable liquids, and react rapidly with CO2 to give carboxylic acid salts.
  • Although the formulas drawn here for the alkyl lithium and Grignard reagents reflect the stoichiometry of the reactions and are widely used in the chemical literature, they do not accurately depict the structural nature of these remarkable substances.
  • For example, simple alkyl lithiums are largely hexameric clusters in hydrocarbon solvents, but change to tetrameric and dimeric forms in various ether solvents.

• Ionic Radius

  • For example, while neutral lithium is larger than neutral fluorine, the lithium cation is much smaller than the fluorine anion, due to the lithium cation having a different highest energy shell.

• Percent Ionic Character and Bond Angle

  • The answer is 1.56Å; the electron is now closer to the lithium nucleus than it was in neutral lithium.
  • Where is the electron in lithium fluoride?

• Overview of Reducing Agents

  • Note that Lithium Aluminum Hydride (LiAlH4) is the strongest reducing agent listed, and it reduces all the substrates.

• Reactions with Organometallic Reagents

  • The facile addition of alkyl lithium reagents and Grignard reagents to aldehydes and ketones has been described.
  • The acidity of carboxylic acids and 1º & 2º-amides acts to convert Grignard and alkyl lithium reagents to hydrocarbons (see equations), so these functional groups should be avoided when these reagents are used.
  • To achieve this selectivity we need to convert the highly reactive Grignard and lithium reagents to less nucleophilic species.

• Irreversible Addition Reactions

  • Two practical sources of hydride-like reactivity are the complex metal hydrides lithium aluminum hydride (LiAlH4) and sodium borohydride (NaBH4).
  • These are both white (or near white) solids, which are prepared from lithium or sodium hydrides by reaction with aluminum or boron halides and esters.
  • The lithium, sodium, boron and aluminum end up as soluble inorganic salts.
  • The two most commonly used compounds of this kind are alkyl lithium reagents and Grignard reagents.
  • The first demonstrates that active metal derivatives of terminal alkynes function in the same fashion as alkyl lithium and Grignard reagents.

• Effect of a Common Ion on Solubility

  • Lithium hydroxide forms less-soluble lithium carbonate, which precipitates because of the common ion effect.