Group 14 hydride
Group 14 hydrides are chemical compounds composed of hydrogen atoms and carbon group atoms (the elements of group 14 are carbon, silicon, germanium, tin, and lead).
The tetrahydride series has the chemical formula XH4, with X representing any of the carbon family. Methane is commonly the result of the decomposition of organic matter, and is a greenhouse gas. The other hydrides are generally unstable, poisonous metal hydrides.
They take on a pyramidal structure, and as such are not polar molecules like the other p-block hydrides.
Unlike other light hydrides such as ammonia, water and hydrogen fluoride, methane does not exhibit any anomalous effects attributed to hydrogen bonding and so its properties conform well to the prevailing trend of heavier group 14 hydrides.
This series has the chemical formula X2H6. Ethane is commonly found alongside methane in natural gas. The other hydrides are even less stable than the tetrahydrides.
All straight-chain saturated group 14 hydrides follow the formula XnH2n+2, the same formula for the alkanes.
Many other group 14 hydrides are known. Carbon forms a huge variety of hydrocarbons (with propane and butane following methane and ethane among the alkanes, but also including alkenes, alkynes, cyclic and branched compounds, as well as aromatic hydrocarbons such as benzene, toluene and limonene), whose study forms the core of organic chemistry.
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