Class A metals are metals that form hard acids. Hard acids are acids with relatively ionic bonds. These metals, such as iron, aluminum, titanium, sodium, calcium and the lanthanides, would rather bond with fluorine than iodine. They form stable products with hard bases, which are bases with ionic bonds.
Class B metals are metals that form soft acids. Soft acids are acids with relatively covalent bonds. These metals, such as lead, gold, palladium, platinum, mercury and rhodium, would rather bond with iodine than fluorine. They form stable products with soft bases, which are bases with covalent bonds.
The IUPAC Gold Book provides a more general definition of a class (a) metal ion, as "A metal ion that combines preferentially with ligands containing ligating atoms that are the lightest of their Periodic Group", and a class (b) metal as one that combines preferentially with ligands containing ligating atoms other than the lightest of their Periodic Group .
Famous quotes containing the words classes and/or metals:
“There are three classes into which all the women past seventy that ever I knew were to be divided: 1. That dear old soul; 2. That old woman; 3. That old witch.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)
“When human beings have been fascinated by the contemplation of their own hearts, the more intricate biological pattern of the female has become a model for the artist, the mystic, and the saint. When mankind turns instead to what can be done, altered, built, invented, in the outer world, all natural properties of men, animals, or metals become handicaps to be altered rather than clues to be followed.”
—Margaret Mead (1901–1978)