Mercuric Chloride

Mercury(II) chloride (or mercury bichloride, mercury

dichloride), historically also known as sulema or

corrosive sublimate, is the inorganic chemical

compound of mercury and chlorine with the formula

HgCl2. It is a white crystalline solid and is a laboratory

reagent and a molecular compound that is very toxic to

humans.

The main application of mercuric chloride is as a

catalyst for the conversion of acetylene to vinyl chloride,

the precursor to polyvinyl chloride.

For this application, the mercuric chloride is supported

on carbon in concentrations of about 5 weight percent.

This technology has been eclipsed by the thermal

cracking of 1,2-dichloroethane. Other significant

applications of mercuric chloride include its use as a

depolarizer in batteries and as a reagent in organic

synthesis and analytical chemistry. It is

being used in plant tissue culture for surface

sterilization of explants such as leaf or stem nodes.

Mercuric chloride is occasionally used to form an

amalgam with metals, such as aluminum

Mercuric chloride is used to remove dithiane groups

attached to a carbonyl in a umpolung reaction. This

reaction exploits the high affinity of Hg2+ for anionic

sulfur ligands.