Antimonate Explained

In chemistry an antimonate is a compound which contains a metallic element, oxygen, and antimony in an oxidation state of +5. These compounds adopt polymeric structures with M-O-Sb linkages. They can be considered to be derivatives of the hypothetical antimonic acid H₃SbO₄, or combinations of metal oxides and antimony pentoxide, Sb₂O₅.

Historically these compounds were assumed to be analogous to the phosphates and formulas such as LiSbO₃·3H₂O and Na₂H₂Sb₂O₇·5H₂O were used and the compounds described as hydrated meta-antimonates and pyro-antimonates. LiSbO₃·3H₂O is now known to be LiSb(OH)₆ and contain the anion and that Na₂H₂Sb₂O₇·5H₂O is actually NaSb(OH)₆.^[1]

Some examples of antimonates and their structures are shown below:

• Li₃SbO₄ has a NaCl superstructure with isolated units.
• Sodium antimonate, NaSbO₃, has the ilmenite structure, with hexagonal close packed oxide ions with each ion, Na⁺ and Sb⁵⁺ occupying a third of the octahedral sites.^[1]
• MgSb₂O₆ has the trirutile structure, which is similar to the rutile structure except that there are two different cations in the lattice.^[1]
• AlSbO₄ has the rutile structure with random occupancy.^[1]
• Lead antimonate, Pb₂Sb₂O₇, Naples yellow, has the pyrochlore structure.^[1]
• Calcium antimonate, Ca₂Sb₂O₇, has the weberite structure.^[1]
• Ferric ortho-antimonate, Fe₂O₃·Sb₂O₅ or FeSbO₄, has the rutile structure with random occupancy.^[1]

Antimonate in chemical nomenclature

IUPAC recommendations are that compounds with anions containing antimony(V) have the antimonate(V) suffix or antimonate followed by a charge number, for example the ion would be called hexahydridoxidoantimonate(V) or alternatively hexahydroxidoantimonate(1−).^[2]

See also

• Antimonate mineral
• Antimonide
• Antimonite

Notes and References

1. Wells A.F. (1984) Structural Inorganic Chemistry 5th edition, Oxford Science Publications
2. Nomenclature of Inorganic Chemistry—IUPAC Recommendations 2005 Red Book 2005.pdf