Oxidation Numbers

A short list Monatomic ions +1

all the alkali metals show the +1 oxidation state only copper (I) , cuprous H+1 Cu+1 Au+1 gold (I) Li+1 +1 Ag silver Na+1 +1 Tl thallium (I) K+1 +2 Hg2 mercury (I), mercurous Rb+1 Cs+1 hydrogen lithium sodium potassium rubidium cesium

+2
all the alkaline earth metals show the +2 oxidation state only copper (II), cupric Be+2 Cu+2 +2 Fe iron (II), ferrous Ca+2 +2 Pb lead (II), plumbous Mg+2 +2 Sn tin (II), stannous Sr+2 Cr+2 chromium (II) Ba+2 +2 Ni nickel (II) Ra+2 +2 Zn zinc Cd+2 +2 Cd cadmium Hg+2 +2 Mn manganese (II) Co+2 beryllium calcium magnesium strontium barium radium cadmium mercury (II), mercuric cobalt (II), cobaltous

+3
all the IIIA elements exhibit the +3 state, but Tl exhibits +1 as well Fe+3 iron (III), ferric B+3 +3 Cr chromium (III) Al+3 +3 Ni nickel (III) Ga+3 +3 Co cobalt (III), cobaltic In+3 +3 Au gold (III) Tl+3 Ti+3 titanium (III) Sc+3 boron aluminum gallium indium thallium (III) scandium

+4
all elements in IVA exhibit the +4 state, but some in IVA exhibit more than one state C+4 carbon Sn+4 tin (IV), stannic +4 +4 Si silicon Pb lead (IV), plumbic Ge+4 germanium Ti+4 titanium (IV) Mn+4 manganese (IV)

-1
all the halogens exhibit the -1 state; several exhibit + states in covalent compounds F-1 fluoride I-1 iodide -1 Cl chloride H-1 hydride Br-1 bromide

-2
all the chalcogens exhibit the -2 state for ionic compounds; several exhibit + states in covalent compounds O-2 oxide Se-2 selenide -2 -2 S sulfide Te telluride

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-3
some of the VA elements exhibit the -3 state for ionic compounds; several exhibit + states in covalent compounds nitride N-3 P-3 phosphide

-4
only carbon exhibits the -4 state for a limited number of ionic compounds C-4 carbide

Polyatomic ions
+1 the only commonly encountered ion is the ammonium ion ammonium NH4+

-1
(NO2)-1 (NO3)-1 (HSO4)-1 (HCO3)-1 (HSO3)-1 (MnO4)-1 (OH)-1 (CN)-1 nitrite nitrate hydrogen sulfate, bisulfate hydrogen carbonate, bicarbonate hydrogen sulfite, bisulfite permanganate hydroxide cyanide (ClO4)-1 (ClO3)-1 (ClO2)-1 (ClO)-1 (IO3)-1 (BrO3)-1 (C2H3O2)-1 (H2PO4)-1 perchlorate chlorate chlorite hypochlorite iodate bromate acetate dihydrogen phosphate

-2
(SO4)-2 (CrO4)-2 (Cr2O7)-2 (C2O4)-2 sulfate chromate dichromate oxalate (CO3)-2 (SiF6)-2 (C4H4O6)-2 (HPO4)-2 carbonate hexafluorosilicate tartrate hydrogen phosphate

-3
(PO4)-3 (PO3)-3 phosphate phosphite (AsO4)-3 arsenate

ACIDS (aq) H2SO4 H2SO3 H2CO3 H3PO4 H3PO3 HClO4 HClO3 HClO2 HClO sulfuric sulfurous carbonic phosphoric phosphorous perchloric chloric chlorous hypochlorous HNO3 HNO2 HC2H3O2 H3BO3 H2C2O4 HCl HBr HF HI HCN nitric nitrous acetic boric oxalic hydrochloric hydrobromic hydrofluoric hydroiodic hydrocyanic

H2SO4, HClO4, HClO3, HNO3, HCl, HBr, HI can be considered to be strong acids, ionizing completely in most cases; the rest are weak acids.

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