TRANSITION-METAL PNICTIDE SYNTHESIS - SELF-PROPAGATING REACTIONS INVOLVING SODIUM ARSENIDE, ANTIMONIDE AND BISMUTHIDE

Initiation of the reaction between Na(3)E (E = As, Sb, Bi) and anhydro us metal halides at 25 to 550 degrees C produces metal arsenides M(x)A s(y) (M = Y, La, Ti, Hf, V, Nb, Ta, Cr, Mo, W, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Pt, Cu and Zn) and antimonides M(x)Sb(y) (M = Ti, V, Nb, Ta, Cr, Fe, Co, Ni, Pt, Cu and Zn) via an exothermic selfpropagating reaction. The metal a rsenides were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, SEM/EDAX, mic roanalysis and FT-IR.