Hydrides of group 14 elements

     Although the extensive chemistry of hydrocarbons (i.e. carbon hydrides) lies outside this book, we note several points for comparisons with later group 14 hydrides:

• Table 1.1 illustrated the relative strength of a C^_H bond compared with C^_Cl and C^_O bonds, and this trend is not mirrored by later elements;
• CH₄ is chlorinated with some difficulty, whereas SiH₄ reacts violently with Cl₂;
•  CH₄ is stable with respect to hydrolysis, but SiH₄ is readily attacked by water;
• SiH₄ is spontaneously inflammable in air and, although it is the kinetic stability of CH₄ with respect to reaction with O₂ at 298K that is crucial, values of ΔcH^o show that combustion of SiH₄ is more exothermic than that of CH₄;
• catenation is more common for C than the later group 14 elements, and hydrocarbon families are much more diverse than their Si, Ge, Sn and Pb analogues.