Methanium
Ion of carbon with five hydrogens / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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In chemistry, methanium is a complex positive ion with formula [CH5]+ (metastable transitional form, a carbon atom covalently bonded to five hydrogen atoms) or [CH3(H2)]+ (fluxional form, namely a molecule with one carbon atom covalently bonded to three hydrogen atoms and one dihydrogen molecule), bearing a +1 electric charge. It is a superacid and one of the onium ions, indeed the simplest carbonium ion.
"True" methanium, the metastable transitional state [CH5]+ | |
Fluxional methanium, [CH3(H2)]+ | |
Names | |
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IUPAC name
Methanium | |
Other names
carbonium (discouraged due to multiple definitions)[1] | |
Identifiers | |
3D model (JSmol) |
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PubChem CID |
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Properties | |
CH+5 | |
Molar mass | 17.051 g·mol−1 |
Conjugate base | Methane |
Structure | |
trigonal bipyramidal | |
Except where otherwise noted, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C [77 °F], 100 kPa).
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It is highly unstable and highly reactive even upon having a complete octet, thus granting its superacidic properties.
Methanium can be produced in the laboratory as a rarefied gas or as a dilute species in superacids. It was prepared for the first time in 1950 and published in 1952 by Victor Talrose and his assistant Anna Konstantinovna Lyubimova.[2][3] It occurs as an intermediate species in chemical reactions.
The methanium ion is named after methane (CH4), by analogy with the derivation of ammonium ion (NH+4) from ammonia (NH3).