THALLIUM

(Tl), chemical element, metal of main Group IIIa, or boron group, of the periodic table, poisonous, chiefly univalent, and of limited commercial value. Like lead, thallium is a soft, low-melting element of low tensile strength. Freshly cut thallium has a metallic lustre that dulls to bluish gray upon exposure to air. The metal continues to oxidize upon prolonged contact with air, generating a heavy nonprotective oxide crust. Thallium dissolves slowly in hydrochloric acid and dilute sulfuric acid and rapidly in nitric acid. Rarer than tin, thallium is concentrated in only a few minerals that have no commercial value. Trace amounts of thallium are present in sulfide ores of zinc and lead; in the roasting of these ores, the thallium becomes concentrated in the flue dusts, from which it is recovered. Sir William Crookes discovered (1861) thallium by observing the prominent green spectral line generated by selenium-bearing pyrites that had been used in the manufacture of sulfuric acid. Crookes and Claude-Auguste Lamy independently isolated (1862) thallium, showing it to be a metal. Soluble thallium compounds are toxic. The metal itself is changed to such compounds by contact with moist air or skin. Thallium poisoning, which may be fatal, causes nervous and gastrointestinal disorders and rapid loss of hair. The heaviest of the boron group elements, thallium, unlike the others, is predominantly univalent instead of trivalent. In water the colourless, more stable thallium(I) or thallous ion, Tl+, resembles the heavier alkali metal ions; the thallium(III) compounds are easily reduced to thallium(I) compounds. Two crystalline forms of the element are known: close-packed hexagonal below about 230 C and body-centred cubic above. Natural thallium consists almost entirely of a mixture of two stable isotopes: thallium-203 (29.50 percent) and thallium-205 (70.50 percent). Traces of several short-lived isotopes occur as decay products in the three natural radioactive disintegration series: thallium-206 and thallium-210 (uranium series), thallium-208 (thorium series), and thallium-207 (actinium series). Thallium metal has no commercial use, and thallium compounds have no major commercial application, since thallium(I) sulfate was largely replaced in the 1960s as a rodenticide and insecticide. Thallium(I) compounds have a few limited uses. For example mixed bromide-iodide crystals (TlBr and TlI) that transmit infrared light have been fabricated into lenses, windows, and prisms for infrared optical systems. The sulfide (Tl2S) has been employed as the essential component in a highly sensitive photoelectric cell and the oxysulfide in an infrared-sensitive photocell (thallofide cell). Also, the oxide (Tl2O) has been utilized as an ingredient in highly refractive optical glasses and as a colouring agent in artificial gems. Alkali halide crystals, such as sodium iodide, have been doped or activated by thallium compounds to produce inorganic phosphors for use in scintillation counters to detect radiation. atomic number 81 atomic weight 204.37 melting point 303.5 C boiling point 1,457 C specific gravity 11.85 (20 C) valence 1, 3 electronic config. 2-8-18-32-18-3 or (Xe)4f 145d106s26p1