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Mercury(I) hydride is a chemical compound with the chemical formula Hg₂H₂. Mercury(I) hydride is a metal hydride composed of mercury and hydrogen. It is not well-characterised or well-known, and is thermodynamically unstable with repect to the loss of the hydrogen atoms.

Mercury(I) hydride is an unstable gas and is the heaviest group 12 monohydride. Furthermore, mercury(I) hydride has a linear (C_∞v) structure. By weight percent, the composition of mercury(I) hydride is 0.50% hydrogen and 99.50% mercury. In mercury(I) hydride, the formal oxidation states of hydrogen and mercury are -1 and +1, respectively, because of the electronegativity of mercury is lower than that of hydrogen. The stability of metal hydrides with the formula M₂H₂ (M = Zn-Hg) increases as the atomic number of M increases.

The Hg-H bonds are very weak and therefore the compound has only been detected in matrix isolation at temperatures up to 6 K. Mercury(II) hydride, HgH₂, has also been detected this way.

References

1. "Mercury hydride". Chemistry WebBook. USA: National Institute of Standards and Technology. Retrieved 14 October 2012.
2. Aldridge, Simon; Downs, Anthony J. (2001). "Hydrides of the Main-Group Metals:  New Variations on an Old Theme". Chemical Reviews. 101 (11): 3305–65. doi:10.1021/cr960151d. PMID 11840988. {{cite journal}}: no-break space character in |title= at position 35 (help)
3. Knight, Lon B. (1971). "Hyperfine Interaction, Chemical Bonding, and Isotope Effect in ZnH, CdH, and HgH Molecules". The Journal of Chemical Physics. 55 (5): 2061. doi:10.1063/1.1676373.

• Mercury compounds
• Metal hydrides