The Basicities of Metallic Elements and Their Compounds

Although the terms basicity, as applied to the metallic elements and their compounds, has been employed to cover a variety of phenomena, from the ease with which the free elements lose electrons under oxidizing conditions through the extent to which metal salts hydrolyze in aqueous solution to the ease with which oxygen-containing salts decompose when heated, all such phenomona, are reducible, directly or indirectly, to relative attractions (or lack of attraction) for aniona or electrons. In this respect, they are, therefore, all manifestations of acid base behavior in terms of the broad electronic concept offered by Usanovich.

Since basicity involves the loss of aniona or electrons, any property which measures the tendency of an element to low electrons or which measures the lack of attraction which an ion has for electrons or anions in turn measures the basicity of that elements or ion. There is, therefore, no ambiguity in referring to such a variety of phenomena as mentioned above as measure of basicities. A broad generalization of this sort would be impossible in term of older approaches to acid-base character, and in this respect the Usanovich interpretation does much to clarify an otherwise confused situation.