Nuffield Advanced Chemistry - What are the oxidation states of sodium, aluminium, bromine, and phosphorus in naturally-occurring compounds?

Oxidation states and redox reactions

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What are the oxidation states of sodium, aluminium, bromine, and phosphorus in naturally-occurring compounds?

Rev answers …

You will remember from your work on the Periodic Table that some elements have fixed oxidation states and others have variable one. The Group 1 elements have fixed oxidation states of 1 while the top of Group 3 are fixed at 3. However many non-metals have more than one oxidation state. Thus:

Sodium-fixed oxidation state all compounds – natural or manufactured oxidation state +1.

Aluminium-fixed oxidation state all compounds – natural or manufactured oxidation state +3. For aluminium these tend to be bauxite (oxide), cryolite (fluoride) or aluminosilicate rocks such as feldspar.

Phosphorus is a non-metal with more than one oxidation state, but all the naturally-occurring phosphorus is found as phosphate(V) , PO₄^3–.

Bromine has a large range of oxidation states from –1 to +5. However, bromide ( –1) in sea water is the only real source of the element.

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updated: 25 August 2003

Oxidation states and redox reactions

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