Bismuthyl Explained

Bismuthyl means a chemical species formally derived from the element bismuth and can refer to substituents bonded to the rest of a molecule through a bismuth atom, including:

• derivatives of bismuthanes, BiR₃, such as the diphenylbismuthyl group, Ph₂Bi–, found in the ion [Ph₂Bi−(Ge₉)−BiPh₂]²⁻
• trivalent bismuth species when considered as ligands, such as the tribromobismuthyl ligand, Br₃Bi→

In inorganic chemistry bismuthyl has been used to describe compounds such as BiOCl which were assumed to contain the diatomic bismuthyl, BiO⁺, cation, that was also presumed to exist in aqueous solution.^[1] This diatomic ion is not now believed to exist.^[2]

Notes and References

1. Book: Chemistry of arsenic, antimony, and bismuth. S. M. . Godfrey. C. A. . McAuliffe. A. G. . Mackie. R. G. . Pritchard. Nicholas C. Norman. Springer. 1998. 0-7514-0389-X. 67–84.
2. Book: Wiberg. Inorganic chemistry. Wiberg . Egon. Holleman . A. F. . Wiberg . Nils. Academic Press. 2001. 0-12-352651-5.