Polonium tetranitrate

Template:Chembox Polonium tetranitrate is an inorganic compound, a salt of polonium and nitric acid with the chemical formula Po(NO₃)₄. The compound is radioactive, forms white crystals.

Synthesis

Dissolution of metallic polonium in concentrated nitric acid:Template:Cn

$𝖯𝗈\mathsf{+}\mathrm{𝟪}𝖧𝖭{𝖮}_{\mathrm{𝟥}}\stackrel{}{\to }𝖯𝗈\mathsf{(}𝖭{𝖮}_{\mathrm{𝟥}}{\mathsf{)}}_{\mathrm{𝟦}}\mathsf{+}\mathrm{𝟦}𝖭{𝖮}_{\mathrm{𝟤}}\mathsf{\uparrow }\mathsf{+}\mathrm{𝟦}{𝖧}_{\mathrm{𝟤}}𝖮$

Physical properties

Polonium(IV) nitrate forms white or colorless crystals. It dissolves in water with hydrolysis.

Chemical properties

It disproportionates in aqueous weakly acidic nitric acid solutions:

$\mathrm{𝟤}𝖯𝗈\mathsf{(}𝖭{𝖮}_{\mathrm{𝟥}}{\mathsf{)}}_{\mathrm{𝟦}}\mathsf{+}\mathrm{𝟤}{𝖧}_{\mathrm{𝟤}}𝖮\stackrel{}{\to }𝖯𝗈{𝖮}_{\mathrm{𝟤}}\mathsf{(}𝖭{𝖮}_{\mathrm{𝟥}}{\mathsf{)}}_{\mathrm{𝟤}}\mathsf{\downarrow }\mathsf{+}𝖯{𝗈}^{\mathrm{𝟤}\mathsf{+}}\mathsf{+}\mathrm{𝟤}𝖭O_{\mathrm{𝟥}}^{\mathsf{-}}\mathsf{+}\mathrm{𝟦}𝖧𝖭{𝖮}_{\mathrm{𝟥}}$

The polonium(II) ion (Po²⁺) is then oxidized by nitric acid to polonium(IV).