3239. Dimethylcadmium

Nomenclature

CAS number: 506-82-1
Cadmium dimethyl.
C2H6Cd; mol wt 142.48.
C 16.86%, H 4.24%, Cd 78.90%.
Cd(CH3)2.

Description and references

Prepn from a Grignard reagent and a cadmium halide: Krause, Ber. 50, 1813 (1917); Gilman, Nelson, Rec. Trav. Chim. 55, 518 (1936); Anderson, Taylor, J. Phys. Chem. 56, 161 (1952).

Properties

Liquid. Disagreeable odor. May be kept in a sealed tube. mp -4.5°; bp758 105.5°; d417.9 1.9846; nD 1.5488. Dec with explosive violence when heated above 150°. Catches fire when dropped on filter paper and produces dense clouds of first white, then brown cadmium oxide smoke. When thrown into water, it sinks to the bottom in large drops, which dec in a series of sudden explosive jerks, with crack-ling sounds. Sol in hydrocarbons.

Use

In organic synthesis; as polymerization catalyst.