Antimony

Not to be confused with antinomy or antiphony.

This article is about the element. For other uses, see Antimony (disambiguation).

Antimony is a chemical element; it has symbol Sb (from Latin stibium) and atomic number 51. A lustrous grey metal or metalloid, it is found in nature mainly as the sulfide mineral stibnite (Sb₂S₃). Antimony compounds have been known since ancient times and were powdered for use as medicine and cosmetics, often known by the Arabic name kohl.^[8] The earliest known description of this metalloid in the West was written in 1540 by Vannoccio Biringuccio.

Antimony, ₅₁Sb

Antimony
Pronunciation	UK: /ˈæntɪməni/ (AN-tə-mə-nee) US: /ˈæntɪmoʊni/ (AN-tə-moh-nee)
Appearance	silvery lustrous gray
Standard atomic weight Ar°(Sb)
	121.760±0.001[1] 121.76±0.01 (abridged)[2]
Antimony in the periodic table
Hydrogen Helium Lithium Beryllium Boron Carbon Nitrogen Oxygen Fluorine Neon Sodium Magnesium Aluminium Silicon Phosphorus Sulfur Chlorine Argon Potassium Calcium Scandium Titanium Vanadium Chromium Manganese Iron Cobalt Nickel Copper Zinc Gallium Germanium Arsenic Selenium Bromine Krypton Rubidium Strontium Yttrium Zirconium Niobium Molybdenum Technetium Ruthenium Rhodium Palladium Silver Cadmium Indium Tin Antimony Tellurium Iodine Xenon Caesium Barium Lanthanum Cerium Praseodymium Neodymium Promethium Samarium Europium Gadolinium Terbium Dysprosium Holmium Erbium Thulium Ytterbium Lutetium Hafnium Tantalum Tungsten Rhenium Osmium Iridium Platinum Gold Mercury (element) Thallium Lead Bismuth Polonium Astatine Radon Francium Radium Actinium Thorium Protactinium Uranium Neptunium Plutonium Americium Curium Berkelium Californium Einsteinium Fermium Mendelevium Nobelium Lawrencium Rutherfordium Dubnium Seaborgium Bohrium Hassium Meitnerium Darmstadtium Roentgenium Copernicium Nihonium Flerovium Moscovium Livermorium Tennessine Oganesson As ↑ Sb ↓ Bi tin ← antimony → tellurium
Atomic number (Z)	51
Group	group 15 (pnictogens)
Period	period 5
Block	p-block
Electron configuration	[Kr] 4d10 5s2 5p3
Electrons per shell	2, 8, 18, 18, 5
Physical properties
Phase at STP	solid
Melting point	903.78 K ​(630.63 °C, ​1167.13 °F)
Boiling point	1908 K ​(1635 °C, ​2975 °F)
Density (at 20° C)	6.694 g/cm3[3]
when liquid (at m.p.)	6.53 g/cm3
Heat of fusion	19.79 kJ/mol
Heat of vaporization	193.43 kJ/mol
Molar heat capacity	25.23 J/(mol·K)
Vapor pressure P (Pa) 1 10 100 1 k 10 k 100 k at T (K) 807 876 1011 1219 1491 1858
Atomic properties
Oxidation states	−3, −2, −1, 0,[4] +1, +2, +3, +4, +5 (an amphoteric oxide)
Electronegativity	Pauling scale: 2.05
Ionization energies	1st: 834 kJ/mol 2nd: 1594.9 kJ/mol 3rd: 2440 kJ/mol (more)
Atomic radius	empirical: 140 pm
Covalent radius	139±5 pm
Van der Waals radius	206 pm
Spectral lines of antimony
Other properties
Natural occurrence	primordial
Crystal structure	​rhombohedral (hR2)
Lattice constants	a = 0.45066 nm α = 57.112° ah = 0.43084 nm ch = 1.12736 nm (at 20 °C)[3]
Thermal expansion	11.04×10−6/K (at 20 °C)[lower-alpha 1]
Thermal conductivity	24.4 W/(m⋅K)
Electrical resistivity	417 nΩ⋅m (at 20 °C)
Magnetic ordering	diamagnetic[5]
Molar magnetic susceptibility	−99.0×10−6 cm3/mol[6]
Young's modulus	55 GPa
Shear modulus	20 GPa
Bulk modulus	42 GPa
Speed of sound thin rod	3420 m/s (at 20 °C)
Mohs hardness	3.0
Brinell hardness	294–384 MPa
CAS Number	7440-36-0
History
Discovery	Arabic alchemists (before AD 815)
Symbol	"Sb": from Latin stibium 'stibnite'
Isotopes of antimony v e
Main isotopes[7] Decay abun­dance half-life (t1/2) mode pro­duct 121Sb 57.2% stable 123Sb 42.8% stable 125Sb synth 2.7576 y β− 125Te
Category: Antimony view talk edit | references

China is the largest producer of antimony and its compounds, with most production coming from the Xikuangshan Mine in Hunan. The industrial methods for refining antimony from stibnite are roasting followed by reduction with carbon, or direct reduction of stibnite with iron.

The most common applications for metallic antimony are in alloys with lead and tin, which have improved properties for solders, bullets, and plain bearings. It improves the rigidity of lead-alloy plates in lead–acid batteries. Antimony trioxide is a prominent additive for halogen-containing flame retardants. Antimony is used as a dopant in semiconductor devices.

Characteristics

Properties

A vial containing the metallic allotrope of antimony

Native antimony with oxidation products

Crystal structure common to Sb, AsSb and gray As

Antimony is a member of group 15 of the periodic table, one of the elements called pnictogens, and has an electronegativity of 2.05. In accordance with periodic trends, it is more electronegative than tin or bismuth, and less electronegative than tellurium or arsenic. Antimony is stable in air at room temperature but, if heated, it reacts with oxygen to produce antimony trioxide, Sb₂O₃.^[9]

Antimony is a silvery, lustrous gray metalloid with a Mohs scale hardness of 3, which is too soft to mark hard objects. Coins of antimony were issued in China's Guizhou in 1931; durability was poor, and minting was soon discontinued because of its softness and toxicity.^[10] Antimony is resistant to attack by acids.

The only stable allotrope of antimony under standard conditions^[11] is metallic, brittle, silver-white, and shiny. It crystallises in a trigonal cell, isomorphic with bismuth and the gray allotrope of arsenic, and is formed when molten antimony is cooled slowly. Amorphous black antimony is formed upon rapid cooling of antimony vapor, and is only stable as a thin film (thickness in nanometres); thicker samples spontaneously transform into the metallic form.^[12] It oxidizes in air and may ignite spontaneously. At 100 °C, it gradually transforms into the stable form. The supposed yellow allotrope of antimony, generated only by oxidation of stibine (SbH₃) at −90 °C, is also impure and not a true allotrope;^[13][14] above this temperature and in ambient light, it transforms into the more stable black allotrope.^[15][16][17] A rare explosive form of antimony can be formed from the electrolysis of antimony trichloride, but it always contains appreciable chlorine and is not really an antimony allotrope.^[13] When scratched with a sharp implement, an exothermic reaction occurs and white fumes are given off as metallic antimony forms; when rubbed with a pestle in a mortar, a strong detonation occurs.

Elemental antimony adopts a layered structure (space group R3m No. 166) whose layers consist of fused, ruffled, six-membered rings. The nearest and next-nearest neighbors form an irregular octahedral complex, with the three atoms in each double layer slightly closer than the three atoms in the next. This relatively close packing leads to a high density of 6.697 g/cm³, but the weak bonding between the layers leads to the low hardness and brittleness of antimony.^[9]

Isotopes

Main article: Isotopes of antimony

Antimony has two stable isotopes: ¹²¹Sb with a natural abundance of 57.36% and ¹²³Sb with a natural abundance of 42.64%. It also has 35 radioisotopes, of which the longest-lived is ¹²⁵Sb with a half-life of 2.75 years. In addition, 29 metastable states have been characterized. The most stable of these is ^120m1Sb with a half-life of 5.76 days. Isotopes that are lighter than the stable ¹²³Sb tend to decay by β⁺ decay, and those that are heavier tend to decay by β⁻ decay, with some exceptions.^[18] Antimony is the lightest element to have an isotope with an alpha decay branch, excluding ⁸Be and other light nuclides with beta-delayed alpha emission.^[18]

Occurrence

See also: Category:Antimonide minerals and Category:Antimonate minerals

Stibnite, China CM29287 Carnegie Museum of Natural History specimen on display in Hillman Hall of Minerals and Gems

The abundance of antimony in the Earth's crust is estimated at 0.2 parts per million,^[19] comparable to thallium at 0.5 ppm and silver at 0.07 ppm. It is the 63rd most abundant element in the crust. Even though this element is not abundant, it is found in more than 100 mineral species.^[20] Antimony is sometimes found natively (e.g. on Antimony Peak), but more frequently it is found in the sulfide stibnite (Sb₂S₃) which is the predominant ore mineral.^[19]

Compounds

See also: Category:Antimony compounds

Antimony compounds are often classified according to their oxidation state: Sb(III) and Sb(V). The +5 oxidation state is more common.^[21]

Oxides and hydroxides

Antimony trioxide is formed when antimony is burnt in air.^[22] In the gas phase, the molecule of the compound is Sb
₄O
₆, but it polymerizes upon condensing.^[9] Antimony pentoxide (Sb
₄O
₁₀) can be formed only by oxidation with concentrated nitric acid.^[23] Antimony also forms a mixed-valence oxide, antimony tetroxide (Sb
₂O
₄), which features both Sb(III) and Sb(V).^[23] Unlike oxides of phosphorus and arsenic, these oxides are amphoteric, do not form well-defined oxoacids, and react with acids to form antimony salts.

Antimonous acid Sb(OH)
₃ is unknown, but the conjugate base sodium antimonite ([Na
₃SbO
₃]
₄) forms upon fusing sodium oxide and Sb
₄O
₆.^[24] Transition metal antimonites are also known.^[25]: 122 Antimonic acid exists only as the hydrate HSb(OH)
₆, forming salts as the antimonate anion Sb(OH)⁻
₆. When a solution containing this anion is dehydrated, the precipitate contains mixed oxides.^[25]: 143

The most important antimony ore is stibnite (Sb
₂S
₃). Other sulfide minerals include pyrargyrite (Ag
₃SbS
₃), zinkenite, jamesonite, and boulangerite.^[26] Antimony pentasulfide is non-stoichiometric, which features antimony in the +3 oxidation state and S–S bonds.^[27] Several thioantimonides are known, such as [Sb
₆S
₁₀]²⁻
and [Sb
₈S
₁₃]²⁻
.^[28]

Halides

Antimony forms two series of halides: SbX
₃ and SbX
₅. The trihalides SbF
₃, SbCl
₃, SbBr
₃, and SbI
₃ are all molecular compounds having trigonal pyramidal molecular geometry.

The trifluoride SbF
₃ is prepared by the reaction of Sb
₂O
₃ with HF:^[29]

Sb
₂O
₃ + 6 HF → 2 SbF
₃ + 3 H
₂O

It is Lewis acidic and readily accepts fluoride ions to form the complex anions SbF⁻
₄ and SbF²⁻
₅. Molten SbF
₃ is a weak electrical conductor. The trichloride SbCl
₃ is prepared by dissolving Sb
₂S
₃ in hydrochloric acid:^[30]

Sb
₂S
₃ + 6 HCl → 2 SbCl
₃ + 3 H
₂S

Arsenic sulfides are not readily attacked by the hydrochloric acid, so this method offers a route to As-free Sb.

Structure of gaseous SbF₅

The pentahalides SbF
₅ and SbCl
₅ have trigonal bipyramidal molecular geometry in the gas phase, but in the liquid phase, SbF
₅ is polymeric, whereas SbCl
₅ is monomeric.^[31] SbF
₅ is a powerful Lewis acid used to make the superacid fluoroantimonic acid ("H₂SbF₇").

Oxyhalides are more common for antimony than for arsenic and phosphorus. Antimony trioxide dissolves in concentrated acid to form oxoantimonyl compounds such as SbOCl and (SbO)
₂SO
₄.^[32]

Antimonides, hydrides, and organoantimony compounds

Compounds in this class generally are described as derivatives of Sb³⁻. Antimony forms antimonides with metals, such as indium antimonide (InSb) and silver antimonide (Ag
₃Sb).^[33] The alkali metal and zinc antimonides, such as Na₃Sb and Zn₃Sb₂, are more reactive. Treating these antimonides with acid produces the highly unstable gas stibine, SbH
₃:^[34]

Sb³⁻
+ 3 H⁺
→ SbH
₃

Stibine can also be produced by treating Sb³⁺
salts with hydride reagents such as sodium borohydride. Stibine decomposes spontaneously at room temperature. Because stibine has a positive heat of formation, it is thermodynamically unstable and thus antimony does not react with hydrogen directly.^[35]

Organoantimony compounds are typically prepared by alkylation of antimony halides with Grignard reagents.^[36] A large variety of compounds are known with both Sb(III) and Sb(V) centers, including mixed chloro-organic derivatives, anions, and cations. Examples include triphenylstibine (Sb(C₆H₅)₃) and pentaphenylantimony (Sb(C₆H₅)₅).^[37]

History

One of the alchemical symbols for antimony

Antimony(III) sulfide, Sb₂S₃, was recognized in predynastic Egypt as an eye cosmetic (kohl) as early as about 3100 BC, when the cosmetic palette was invented.^[38]

An artifact, said to be part of a vase, made of antimony dating to about 3000 BC was found at Telloh, Chaldea (part of present-day Iraq), and a copper object plated with antimony dating between 2500 BC and 2200 BC has been found in Egypt.^[15] Austen, at a lecture by Herbert Gladstone in 1892, commented that "we only know of antimony at the present day as a highly brittle and crystalline metal, which could hardly be fashioned into a useful vase, and therefore this remarkable 'find' (artifact mentioned above) must represent the lost art of rendering antimony malleable."^[39]

The British archaeologist Roger Moorey was unconvinced the artifact was indeed a vase, mentioning that Selimkhanov, after his analysis of the Tello object (published in 1975), "attempted to relate the metal to Transcaucasian natural antimony" (i.e. native metal) and that "the antimony objects from Transcaucasia are all small personal ornaments."^[39] This weakens the evidence for a lost art "of rendering antimony malleable".^[39]

The Roman scholar Pliny the Elder described several ways of preparing antimony sulfide for medical purposes in his treatise Natural History, around 77 AD.^[40] Pliny the Elder also made a distinction between "male" and "female" forms of antimony; the male form is probably the sulfide, while the female form, which is superior, heavier, and less friable, has been suspected to be native metallic antimony.^[41]

The Greek naturalist Pedanius Dioscorides mentioned that antimony sulfide could be roasted by heating by a current of air. It is thought that this produced metallic antimony.^[40]

The Italian metallurgist Vannoccio Biringuccio described a procedure to isolate antimony.

Antimony was frequently described in alchemical manuscripts, including the Summa Perfectionis of Pseudo-Geber, written around the 14th century.^[42] A description of a procedure for isolating antimony is later given in the 1540 book De la pirotechnia by Vannoccio Biringuccio,^[43] predating the more famous 1556 book by Agricola, De re metallica. In this context Agricola has been often incorrectly credited with the discovery of metallic antimony. The book Currus Triumphalis Antimonii (The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony), describing the preparation of metallic antimony, was published in Germany in 1604. It was purported to be written by a Benedictine monk, writing under the name Basilius Valentinus in the 15th century; if it were authentic, which it is not, it would predate Biringuccio.^{[lower-alpha 2][16][46]}

The metal antimony was known to German chemist Andreas Libavius in 1615 who obtained it by adding iron to a molten mixture of antimony sulfide, salt and potassium tartrate. This procedure produced antimony with a crystalline or starred surface.^[40]

With the advent of challenges to phlogiston theory, it was recognized that antimony is an element forming sulfides, oxides, and other compounds, as do other metals.^[40]

The first discovery of naturally occurring pure antimony in the Earth's crust was described by the Swedish scientist and local mine district engineer Anton von Swab in 1783; the type-sample was collected from the Sala Silver Mine in the Bergslagen mining district of Sala, Västmanland, Sweden.^[47][48]

Etymology

The medieval Latin form, from which the modern languages and late Byzantine Greek take their names for antimony, is antimonium.^[49] The origin of that is uncertain, and all suggestions have some difficulty either of form or interpretation. The popular etymology, from ἀντίμοναχός anti-monachos or French antimoine, would mean "monk-killer", which is explained by the fact that many early alchemists were monks, and some antimony compounds were poisonous.^[50]

Another popular etymology is the hypothetical Greek word ἀντίμόνος antimonos, "against aloneness", explained as "not found as metal", or "not found unalloyed".^[15] However, ancient Greek would more naturally express the pure negative as α- ("not").^[51] Edmund Oscar von Lippmann conjectured a hypothetical Greek word ανθήμόνιον anthemonion, which would mean "floret", and cites several examples of related Greek words (but not that one) which describe chemical or biological efflorescence.^[52]

The early uses of antimonium include the translations, in 1050–1100, by Constantine the African of Arabic medical treatises.^[52] Several authorities believe antimonium is a scribal corruption of some Arabic form; Meyerhof derives it from ithmid;^[53] other possibilities include athimar, the Arabic name of the metalloid, and a hypothetical as-stimmi, derived from or parallel to the Greek.^[54]: 28

The standard chemical symbol for antimony (Sb) is credited to Jöns Jakob Berzelius, who derived the abbreviation from stibium.^[55]

The ancient words for antimony mostly have, as their chief meaning, kohl, the sulfide of antimony.^{[citation needed]}

The Egyptians called antimony mśdmt^{[56]: 230 [57]: 541} or stm.^[58]

The Arabic word for the substance, as opposed to the cosmetic, can appear as إثمد ithmid, athmoud, othmod, or uthmod. Littré suggests the first form, which is the earliest, derives from stimmida, an accusative for stimmi.^[54][59] The Greek word στίμμι (stimmi) is used by Attic tragic poets of the 5th century BC, and is possibly a loan word from Arabic or from Egyptian stm.^[58]

Production

Process

The extraction of antimony from ores depends on the quality and composition of the ore. Most antimony is mined as the sulfide; lower-grade ores are concentrated by froth flotation, while higher-grade ores are heated to 500–600 °C, the temperature at which stibnite melts and separates from the gangue minerals. Antimony can be isolated from the crude antimony sulfide by reduction with scrap iron:^[60]

Sb
₂S
₃ + 3 Fe → 2 Sb + 3 FeS

The sulfide is converted to an oxide by roasting. The product is further purified by vaporizing the volatile antimony(III) oxide, which is recovered.^[30] This sublimate is often used directly for the main applications, impurities being arsenic and sulfide.^[61][62] Antimony is isolated from the oxide by a carbothermal reduction:^[60][61]

2 Sb
₂O
₃ + 3 C → 4 Sb + 3 CO
₂

The lower-grade ores are reduced in blast furnaces while the higher-grade ores are reduced in reverberatory furnaces.^[60]

World antimony output in 2010^[63]

World production trend of antimony

Top producers and production volumes

In 2022, according to the US Geological Survey, China accounted for 54.5% of total antimony production, followed in second place by Russia with 18.2% and Tajikistan with 15.5%.^[63]

Antimony mining in 2022^[63]

Country	Tonnes	% of total
China	60,000	54.5
Russia	20,000	18.2
Tajikistan	17,000	15.5
Myanmar	4,000	3.6
Australia	4,000	3.6
Top 5	105,000	95.5
Total world	110,000	100.0

Chinese production of antimony is expected to decline in the future as mines and smelters are closed down by the government as part of pollution control. Especially due to an environmental protection law having gone into effect in January 2015^[64] and revised "Emission Standards of Pollutants for Stanum, Antimony, and Mercury" having gone into effect, hurdles for economic production are higher.

Reported production of antimony in China has fallen and is unlikely to increase in the coming years, according to the Roskill report. No significant antimony deposits in China have been developed for about ten years, and the remaining economic reserves are being rapidly depleted.^[65]

Reserves

World antimony reserves in 2022^[63]

Country	Reserves (tonnes)
China	350,000
Russia	350,000
Bolivia	310,000
Kyrgyzstan	260,000
Myanmar	140,000
Australia	120,000
Turkey	100,000
Canada	78,000
United States	60,000
Tajikistan	50,000
Total world	>1,800,000

Supply risk

For antimony-importing regions such as Europe and the U.S., antimony is considered to be a critical mineral for industrial manufacturing that is at risk of supply chain disruption. With global production coming mainly from China (74%), Tajikistan (8%), and Russia (4%), these sources are critical to supply.^[66][67]

• European Union: Antimony is considered a critical raw material for defense, automotive, construction and textiles. The E.U. sources are 100% imported, coming mainly from Turkey (62%), Bolivia (20%) and Guatemala (7%).^[66]
• United Kingdom: The British Geological Survey's 2015 risk list ranks antimony second highest (after rare earth elements) on the relative supply risk index.^[68][69]
• United States: Antimony is a mineral commodity considered critical to the economic and national security.^[70][67] In 2022, no antimony was mined in the U.S.^[71]

Applications

Approximately 48% of antimony is consumed in flame retardants, 33% in lead–acid batteries, and 8% in plastics.^[60]

Flame retardants

Antimony is mainly used as the trioxide for flame-proofing compounds, always in combination with halogenated flame retardants except in halogen-containing polymers. The flame retarding effect of antimony trioxide is produced by the formation of halogenated antimony compounds,^[72] which react with hydrogen atoms, and probably also with oxygen atoms and OH radicals, thus inhibiting fire.^[73] Markets for these flame-retardants include children's clothing, toys, aircraft, and automobile seat covers. They are also added to polyester resins in fiberglass composites for such items as light aircraft engine covers. The resin will burn in the presence of an externally generated flame, but will extinguish when the external flame is removed.^[30][74]

Alloys

Antimony forms a highly useful alloy with lead, increasing its hardness and mechanical strength. When casting it increases fluidity of the melt and reduces shrinkage during cooling.^[75] For most applications involving lead, varying amounts of antimony are used as alloying metal. In lead–acid batteries, this addition improves plate strength and charging characteristics.^[30][76] For sailboats, lead keels are used to provide righting moment, ranging from 600 lbs to over 200 tons for the largest sailing superyachts; to improve hardness and tensile strength of the lead keel, antimony is mixed with lead between 2% and 5% by volume. Antimony is used in antifriction alloys (such as Babbitt metal),^[77] in bullets and lead shot, electrical cable sheathing, type metal (for example, for linotype printing machines^[78]), solder (some "lead-free" solders contain 5% Sb),^[79] in pewter,^[80] and in hardening alloys with low tin content in the manufacturing of organ pipes.

Other applications

InSb infrared detector manufactured by Mullard in the 1960s

Three other applications consume nearly all the rest of the world's supply.^[60] One application is as a stabilizer and catalyst for the production of polyethylene terephthalate.^[60] Another is as a fining agent to remove microscopic bubbles in glass, mostly for TV screens^[81] – antimony ions interact with oxygen, suppressing the tendency of the latter to form bubbles.^[82] The third application is pigments.^[60]

In the 1990s antimony was increasingly being used in semiconductors as a dopant in n-type silicon wafers^[83] for diodes, infrared detectors, and Hall-effect devices. In the 1950s, the emitters and collectors of n-p-n alloy junction transistors were doped with tiny beads of a lead-antimony alloy.^[84] Indium antimonide (InSb) is used as a material for mid-infrared detectors.^[85][86][87]

The material Ge₂Sb₂Te₅ is used as for phase-change memory, a type of computer memory.

Biology and medicine have few uses for antimony. Treatments containing antimony, known as antimonials, are used as emetics.^[88] Antimony compounds are used as antiprotozoan drugs. Potassium antimonyl tartrate, or tartar emetic, was once used as an anti-schistosomal drug from 1919 on. It was subsequently replaced by praziquantel.^[89] Antimony and its compounds are used in several veterinary preparations, such as anthiomaline and lithium antimony thiomalate, as a skin conditioner in ruminants.^[90] Antimony has a nourishing or conditioning effect on keratinized tissues in animals.

Antimony-based drugs, such as meglumine antimoniate, are also considered the drugs of choice for treatment of leishmaniasis. Early treatments used antimony(III) species (trivalent antimonials), but in 1922 Upendranath Brahmachari invented an much safer antimony(V) drug, and since then so-called pentavalent antimonials have been the standard first-line treatment. However, Leishmania strains in Bihar and neighboring regions have developed resistance to antimony.^[91] Elemental antimony as an antimony pill was once used as a medicine. It could be reused by others after ingestion and elimination.^[92]

Antimony(III) sulfide is used in the heads of some safety matches.^[93][94] Antimony sulfides help to stabilize the friction coefficient in automotive brake pad materials.^[95] Antimony is used in bullets, bullet tracers,^[96] paint, glass art, and as an opacifier in enamel. Antimony-124 is used together with beryllium in neutron sources; the gamma rays emitted by antimony-124 initiate the photodisintegration of beryllium.^[97][98] The emitted neutrons have an average energy of 24 keV.^[99] Natural antimony is used in startup neutron sources.

The powder derived from crushed antimony sulfide (kohl) has been used for millennia as an eye cosmetic. Historically it was applied to the eyes with a metal rod and with one's spittle, and was thought by the ancients to aid in curing eye infections.^[100] The practice is still seen in Yemen and in other Muslim countries.^[101]

Precautions

Antimony and many of its compounds are toxic, and the effects of antimony poisoning are similar to arsenic poisoning. The toxicity of antimony is far lower than that of arsenic; this might be caused by the significant differences of uptake, metabolism and excretion between arsenic and antimony. The uptake of antimony(III) or antimony(V) in the gastrointestinal tract is at most 20%. Antimony(V) is not quantitatively reduced to antimony(III) in the cell (in fact antimony(III) is oxidised to antimony(V) instead^[102]).

Since methylation of antimony does not occur, the excretion of antimony(V) in urine is the main way of elimination.^[103] Like arsenic, the most serious effect of acute antimony poisoning is cardiotoxicity and the resulting myocarditis; however, it can also manifest as Adams–Stokes syndrome, which arsenic does not. Reported cases of intoxication by antimony equivalent to 90 mg antimony potassium tartrate dissolved from enamel has been reported to show only short term effects. An intoxication with 6 g of antimony potassium tartrate was reported to result in death after three days.^[104]

Inhalation of antimony dust is harmful and in certain cases may be fatal; in small doses, antimony causes headaches, dizziness, and depression. Larger doses such as prolonged skin contact may cause dermatitis, or damage the kidneys and the liver, causing violent and frequent vomiting, leading to death in a few days.^[105]

Antimony is incompatible with strong oxidizing agents, strong acids, halogen acids, chlorine, or fluorine. It should be kept away from heat.^[106]

Antimony leaches from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles into liquids.^[107] While levels observed for bottled water are below drinking water guidelines,^[108] fruit juice concentrates (for which no guidelines are established) produced in the UK were found to contain up to 44.7 μg/L of antimony, well above the EU limits for tap water of 5 μg/L.^[109] The guidelines are:

• World Health Organization: 20 μg/L^[110]
• Japan: 15 μg/L^[111]
• United States Environmental Protection Agency, Health Canada and the Ontario Ministry of Environment: 6 μg/L^[112]
• EU and German Federal Ministry of Environment: 5 μg/L^[108]

The tolerable daily intake (TDI) proposed by WHO is 6 μg antimony per kilogram of body weight.^[110] The immediately dangerous to life or health (IDLH) value for antimony is 50 mg/m³.^[113]

Toxicity

Certain compounds of antimony appear to be toxic, particularly antimony trioxide and antimony potassium tartrate.^[114] Effects may be similar to arsenic poisoning.^[115] Occupational exposure may cause respiratory irritation, pneumoconiosis, antimony spots on the skin, gastrointestinal symptoms, and cardiac arrhythmias. In addition, antimony trioxide is potentially carcinogenic to humans.^[116]

Adverse health effects have been observed in humans and animals following inhalation, oral, or dermal exposure to antimony and antimony compounds.^[114] Antimony toxicity typically occurs either due to occupational exposure, during therapy or from accidental ingestion. It is unclear if antimony can enter the body through the skin.^[114] The presence of low levels of antimony in saliva may also be associated with dental decay.^[117]

Notes

1. The thermal expansion is anisotropic: the parameters (at 20 °C) for each crystal axis are α_ah = 8.24×10⁻⁶/K, α_ch = 16.62×10⁻⁶/K, and α_average = α_V/3 = 11.04×10⁻⁶/K.^[3]
2. Already in 1710 Wilhelm Gottlob Freiherr von Leibniz, after careful inquiry, concluded the work was spurious, there was no monk named Basilius Valentinus, and the book's author was its ostensible editor, Johann Thölde (c. 1565 – c. 1624). Professional historians now agree the Currus Triumphalis ... was written after the middle of the 16th century and Thölde was likely its author.^[44] Harold Jantz was perhaps the only modern scholar to deny Thölde's authorship, but he too agrees the work dates from after 1550.^[45]

References

1. "Standard Atomic Weights: Antimony". CIAAW. 1993.
2. Prohaska, Thomas; Irrgeher, Johanna; Benefield, Jacqueline; Böhlke, John K.; Chesson, Lesley A.; Coplen, Tyler B.; Ding, Tiping; Dunn, Philip J. H.; Gröning, Manfred; Holden, Norman E.; Meijer, Harro A. J. (4 May 2022). "Standard atomic weights of the elements 2021 (IUPAC Technical Report)". Pure and Applied Chemistry. doi:10.1515/pac-2019-0603. ISSN 1365-3075.
3. Arblaster, John W. (2018). Selected Values of the Crystallographic Properties of Elements. Materials Park, Ohio: ASM International. ISBN 978-1-62708-155-9.
4. Anastas Sidiropoulos (2019). "Studies of N-heterocyclic Carbene (NHC) Complexes of the Main Group Elements" (PDF). p. 39. doi:10.4225/03/5B0F4BDF98F60. S2CID 132399530.
5. Lide, D. R., ed. (2005). "Magnetic susceptibility of the elements and inorganic compounds". CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (PDF) (86th ed.). Boca Raton (FL): CRC Press. ISBN 0-8493-0486-5.
6. Weast, Robert (1984). CRC, Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. Boca Raton, Florida: Chemical Rubber Company Publishing. pp. E110. ISBN 0-8493-0464-4.
7. Kondev, F. G.; Wang, M.; Huang, W. J.; Naimi, S.; Audi, G. (2021). "The NUBASE2020 evaluation of nuclear properties" (PDF). Chinese Physics C. 45 (3): 030001. doi:10.1088/1674-1137/abddae.
8. David Kimhi's Commentary on Isaiah 4:30 and I Chronicles 29:2; Hebrew: פוך/כְּחֻל, Aramaic: כּוּחְלִי/צדידא; Arabic: كحل, and which can also refer to antimony trisulfide. See also Z. Dori, Antimony and Henna (Heb. הפוך והכופר), Jerusalem 1983 (Hebrew).
9. Wiberg and Holleman, p. 758
10. "Metals Used in Coins and Medals". ukcoinpics.co.uk. Archived from the original on 26 December 2010. Retrieved 16 October 2009.
11. Ashcheulov, A. A.; Manyk, O. N.; Manyk, T. O.; Marenkin, S. F.; Bilynskiy-Slotylo, V. R. (2013). "Some Aspects of the Chemical Bonding in Antimony". Inorganic Materials. 49 (8): 766–769. doi:10.1134/s0020168513070017. S2CID 54954678.
12. Shen, Xueyang; Zhou, Yuxing; Zhang, Hanyi; Derlinger, Volker L.; Mazzarello, Riccardo; Zhang, Wei (2023). "Surface effects on the crystallization kinetics of amorphous antimony". Nanoscale. 15 (37): 15259–15267. doi:10.1039/D3NR03536K. PMID 37674458. S2CID 261552619.
13. Lide, D. R., ed. (2001). CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (82nd ed.). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. p. 4-4. ISBN 0-8493-0482-2.
14. Krebs, H.; Schultze-Gebhardt, F.; Thees, R. (1955). "Über die Struktur und die Eigenschaften der Halbmetalle. IX: Die Allotropie des Antimons". Zeitschrift für anorganische und allgemeine Chemie (in German). 282 (1–6): 177–195. doi:10.1002/zaac.19552820121.
15. "Antimony" in Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, 5th ed. 2004. ISBN 978-0-471-48494-3
16. Wang, Chung Wu (1919). "The Chemistry of Antimony" (PDF). Antimony: Its History, Chemistry, Mineralogy, Geology, Metallurgy, Uses, Preparation, Analysis, Production and Valuation with Complete Bibliographies. London, United Kingdom: Charles Geiffin and Co. Ltd. pp. 6–33. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022.
17. Norman 1998, pp. 50–51
18. Audi, Georges; Bersillon, Olivier; Blachot, Jean; Wapstra, Aaldert Hendrik (2003). "The NUBASE evaluation of nuclear and decay properties". Nuclear Physics A. 729: 3–128. Bibcode:2003NuPhA.729....3A. doi:10.1016/j.nuclphysa.2003.11.001.
19. Greenwood and Earnshaw, p. 548
20. Antimony minerals. mindat.org
21. Greenwood and Earnshaw, p. 553
22. Reger, Daniel L.; Goode, Scott R. & Ball, David W. (2009). Chemistry: Principles and Practice (3rd ed.). Cengage Learning. p. 883. ISBN 978-0-534-42012-3.
23. House, James E. (2008). Inorganic chemistry. Academic Press. p. 502. ISBN 978-0-12-356786-4.
24. Wiberg and Holleman, p. 763
25. Godfrey, S. M.; McAuliffe, C. A.; Mackie, A. G. & Pritchard, R. G. (1998). Norman, Nicholas C. (ed.). Chemistry of arsenic, antimony, and bismuth. Springer. ISBN 978-0-7514-0389-3.
26. Wiberg and Holleman, p. 757
27. Long, G.; Stevens, J. G.; Bowen, L. H.; Ruby, S. L. (1969). "The oxidation number of antimony in antimony pentasulfide". Inorganic and Nuclear Chemistry Letters. 5: 21. doi:10.1016/0020-1650(69)80231-X.
28. Lees, R.; Powell, A.; Chippindale, A. (2007). "The synthesis and characterisation of four new antimony sulphides incorporating transition-metal complexes". Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids. 68 (5–6): 1215. Bibcode:2007JPCS...68.1215L. doi:10.1016/j.jpcs.2006.12.010.
29. Wiberg and Holleman, pp. 761–762
30. Grund, Sabina C.; Hanusch, Kunibert; Breunig, Hans J.; Wolf, Hans Uwe (2006) "Antimony and Antimony Compounds" in Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim. doi:10.1002/14356007.a03_055.pub2
31. Wiberg and Holleman, p. 761
32. Wiberg and Holleman, p. 764
33. Wiberg and Holleman, p. 760
34. Kahlenberg, Louis (2008). Outlines of Chemistry – A Textbook for College Students. READ BOOKS. pp. 324–325. ISBN 978-1-4097-6995-8.
35. Greenwood and Earnshaw, p. 558
36. Elschenbroich, C. (2006) "Organometallics". Wiley-VCH: Weinheim. ISBN 3-527-29390-6
37. Greenwood and Earnshaw, p. 598
38. Shortland, A. J. (2006). "Application of Lead Isotope Analysis to a Wide Range of Late Bronze Age Egyptian Materials". Archaeometry. 48 (4): 657. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4754.2006.00279.x.
39. Moorey, P. R. S. (1994). Ancient Mesopotamian Materials and Industries: the Archaeological Evidence. New York: Clarendon Press. p. 241. ISBN 978-1-57506-042-2.
40. Mellor, Joseph William (1964). "Antimony". A comprehensive treatise on inorganic and theoretical chemistry. Vol. 9. p. 339.
41. Pliny, Natural history, 33.33; W.H.S. Jones, the Loeb Classical Library translator, supplies a note suggesting the identifications.
42. Montserrat Filella, ed. (2021). Antimony. De Gruyter. p. 4. ISBN 9783110668711.
43. Vannoccio Biringuccio, De la Pirotechnia (Venice (Italy): Curtio Navo e fratelli, 1540), Book 2, chapter 3: Del antimonio & sua miniera, Capitolo terzo (On antimony and its ore, third chapter), pp. 27–28. [Note: Only every second page of this book is numbered, so the relevant passage is to be found on the 74th and 75th pages of the text.] (in Italian)
44. Priesner, Claus; Figala, Karin, eds. (1998). Alchemie. Lexikon einer hermetischen Wissenschaft (in German). München: C.H. Beck. ISBN 3406441068.
45. Harold Jantz Collection of German Baroque Literature Reel Listing.
46. Weeks, Mary Elvira (1932). "The discovery of the elements. II. Elements known to the alchemists". Journal of Chemical Education. 9 (1): 11. Bibcode:1932JChEd...9...11W. doi:10.1021/ed009p11.
47. "Native antimony". Mindat.org.
48. Klaproth, M. (1803). "XL. Extracts from the third volume of the analyses". Philosophical Magazine. Series 1. 17 (67): 230. doi:10.1080/14786440308676406.
49. "antimony". Britannica.com. 22 May 2024 [July 20, 1998]. Retrieved 10 June 2024.
50. Fernando, Diana (1998). Alchemy: an illustrated A to Z. Blandford. ISBN 9780713726688. Fernando connects the proposed etymology to the story of "Basil Valentine", although antimonium is found two centuries before Valentine's time.
51. "Antimony". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.), which considers the derivation a "popular etymology".
52. von Lippmann, Edmund Oscar (1919) Entstehung und Ausbreitung der Alchemie, teil 1. Berlin: Julius Springer (in German). pp. 642–5
53. Meyerhof as quoted in Sarton 1935, asserts that ithmid or athmoud became corrupted in the medieval "traductions barbaro-latines". The OED asserts some Arabic form is the origin, and if ithmid is the root, posits athimodium, atimodium, atimonium as intermediates.
54. Endlich, F. M. (1888). "On Some Interesting Derivations of Mineral Names". The American Naturalist. 22 (253): 21–32. doi:10.1086/274630. JSTOR 2451020.
55. Jöns Jacob Berzelius, "Essay on the cause of chemical proportions, and on some circumstances relating to them: together with a short and easy method of expressing them," Annals of Philosophy, vol. 2, pages 443–454 (1813) and vol. 3, pages 51–62, 93–106, 244–255, 353–364 (1814). On p. 52, Berzelius lists the symbol for antimony as "St"; however, starting from p. 248, Berzelius consistently uses the symbol "Sb" instead.
56. Albright, W. F. (1918). "Notes on Egypto-Semitic Etymology. II". The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures. 34 (4): 215–255. doi:10.1086/369866. JSTOR 528157. S2CID 170203738.
57. Sarton, George (1935). "Review of Al-morchid fi'l-kohhl, ou Le guide d'oculistique (Translated by Max Meyerhof)". Isis (in French). 22 (2): 539-542. doi:10.1086/346926. JSTOR 225136.
58. Harper, Douglas. "antimony". Online Etymology Dictionary.
59. • LSJ, s.v., vocalisation, spelling, and declension vary
    • Celsus, 6.6.6 ff
    • Pliny Natural History 33.33
    • Lewis and Short: Latin Dictionary
    • OED, s. "antimony"
60. Klochko, Kateryna (2021). "2017 Minerals Yearbook: Antimony" (PDF). United States Geological Survey.
61. Norman 1998, p. 45
62. Wilson, N. J.; Craw, D.; Hunter, K. (2004). "Antimony distribution and environmental mobility at an historic antimony smelter site, New Zealand". Environmental Pollution. 129 (2): 257–66. Bibcode:2004EPoll.129..257W. doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2003.10.014. PMID 14987811.
63. "Antimony Statistics and Information" (PDF). National Minerals Information Center. USGS.
64. "Environmental Protection Law of the People's Republic of China" (PDF). 24 April 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 June 2014. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
65. "Study of the antimony market by Roskill Consulting Group" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 October 2012. Retrieved 9 April 2012.
66. "Critical Raw Materials Resilience: Charting a Path towards greater Security and Sustainability". European Commission. 2020. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
67. Nassar, Nedal T.; et al. (21 February 2020). "Evaluating the mineral commodity supply risk of the U.S. manufacturing sector". Sci. Adv. 6 (8): eaay8647. Bibcode:2020SciA....6.8647N. doi:10.1126/sciadv.aay8647. PMC 7035000. PMID 32128413.
68. "MineralsUK Risk List 2015". BGS.
69. "British Geological Survey Risk list 2015" (PDF). Minerals UK. BGS. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
70. "Interior Releases 2018's Final List of Critical Minerals". United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
71. "Antimony". U.S. Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries, January 2022 (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
72. Weil, Edward D.; Levchik, Sergei V. (4 June 2009). "Antimony trioxide and Related Compounds". Flame retardants for plastics and textiles: Practical applications. Hanser. ISBN 978-3-446-41652-9.
73. Hastie, John W. (1973). "Mass spectrometric studies of flame inhibition: Analysis of antimony trihalides in flames". Combustion and Flame. 21 (1): 49. Bibcode:1973CoFl...21...49H. doi:10.1016/0010-2180(73)90006-0.
74. Weil, Edward D.; Levchik, Sergei V. (4 June 2009). Flame retardants for plastics and textiles: Practical applications. Hanser. pp. 15–16. ISBN 978-3-446-41652-9.
75. Butterman, W.C.; Carlin, Jr., J.F. (2004). "Mineral Commodity Profiles - Antimony" (PDF). U.S. Geological Survey. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 March 2024. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
76. Kiehne, Heinz Albert (2003). "Types of Alloys". Battery Technology Handbook. CRC Press. pp. 60–61. ISBN 978-0-8247-4249-2.
77. Williams, Robert S. (2007). Principles of Metallography. Read books. pp. 46–47. ISBN 978-1-4067-4671-6.
78. Holmyard, E. J. (2008). Inorganic Chemistry – A Textbook for Colleges and Schools. Read Books. pp. 399–400. ISBN 978-1-4437-2253-7.
79. Ipser, H.; Flandorfer, H.; Luef, Ch.; Schmetterer, C.; Saeed, U. (2007). "Thermodynamics and phase diagrams of lead-free solder materials". Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics. 18 (1–3): 3–17. doi:10.1007/s10854-006-9009-3. S2CID 85452380.
80. Hull, Charles (1992). Pewter. Osprey Publishing. pp. 1–5. ISBN 978-0-7478-0152-8.
81. De Jong, Bernard H. W. S.; Beerkens, Ruud G. C.; Van Nijnatten, Peter A. (2000). "Glass". Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry. doi:10.1002/14356007.a12_365. ISBN 978-3-527-30673-2.
82. Yamashita, H.; Yamaguchi, S.; Nishimura, R.; Maekawa, T. (2001). "Voltammetric Studies of Antimony Ions in Soda-lime-silica Glass Melts up to 1873 K". Analytical Sciences. 17 (1): 45–50. doi:10.2116/analsci.17.45. PMID 11993676.
83. O'Mara, William C.; Herring, Robert B.; Hunt, Lee Philip (1990). Handbook of semiconductor silicon technology. William Andrew. p. 473. ISBN 978-0-8155-1237-0.
84. Maiti, C. K. (2008). Selected Works of Professor Herbert Kroemer. World Scientific, 2008. p. 101. ISBN 978-981-270-901-1.
85. Committee on New Sensor Technologies: Materials And Applications, National Research Council (U.S.) (1995). Expanding the vision of sensor materials. National Academies Press. p. 68. ISBN 978-0-309-05175-0.
86. Kinch, Michael A (2007). Fundamentals of infrared detector materials. SPIE Press. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-8194-6731-7.
87. Willardson, Robert K & Beer, Albert C (1970). Infrared detectors. Academic Press. p. 15. ISBN 978-0-12-752105-3.
88. Russell, Colin A. (2000). "Antimony's Curious History". Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London. 54 (1): 115–116. doi:10.1098/rsnr.2000.0101. JSTOR 532063. PMC 1064207.
89. Harder, A. (2002). "Chemotherapeutic approaches to schistosomes: Current knowledge and outlook". Parasitology Research. 88 (5): 395–7. doi:10.1007/s00436-001-0588-x. PMID 12049454. S2CID 28243137.
90. Kassirsky, I. A.; Plotnikov, N. N. (1 August 2003). Diseases of Warm Lands: A Clinical Manual. The Minerva Group. pp. 262–265. ISBN 978-1-4102-0789-0.
91. Control of the leishmaniases: report of a meeting of the WHO Expert Committee on the Control of Leishmaniases, Geneva, 22-26 March 2010. World Health Organization. 2010. p. 1–2, 55, 67–68. ISBN 978-92-4-120949-6.
92. McCallum, R. I. (1999). Antimony in medical history: an account of the medical uses of antimony and its compounds since early times to the present. Pentland Press. ISBN 978-1-85821-642-3.
93. National Research Council (1970). Trends in usage of antimony: report. National Academies. p. 50.
94. Stellman, Jeanne Mager (1998). Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety: Chemical, industries and occupations. International Labour Organization. p. 109. ISBN 978-92-2-109816-4.
95. Jang, H & Kim, S. (2000). "The effects of antimony trisulfide (Sb₂S₃) and zirconium silicate (ZrSiO₄) in the automotive brake friction material on friction". Journal of Wear. 239 (2): 229. doi:10.1016/s0043-1648(00)00314-8.
96. Randich, Erik; Duerfeldt, Wayne; McLendon, Wade; Tobin, William (2002). "A metallurgical review of the interpretation of bullet lead compositional analysis". Forensic Science International. 127 (3): 174–91. doi:10.1016/S0379-0738(02)00118-4. PMID 12175947. S2CID 22272775.
97. Lalovic, M.; Werle, H. (1970). "The energy distribution of antimonyberyllium photoneutrons". Journal of Nuclear Energy. 24 (3): 123. Bibcode:1970JNuE...24..123L. doi:10.1016/0022-3107(70)90058-4.
98. Ahmed, Syed Naeem (2007). Physics and engineering of radiation detection. Academic Press. p. 51. Bibcode:2007perd.book.....A. ISBN 978-0-12-045581-2.
99. Schmitt, H (1960). "Determination of the energy of antimony-beryllium photoneutrons". Nuclear Physics. 20: 220. Bibcode:1960NucPh..20..220S. doi:10.1016/0029-5582(60)90171-1.
100. Rabbeinu Hananel (1995). "Rabbeinu Hananel's Commentary on Tractate Shabbat". In Metzger, David (ed.). Perushe Rabenu Ḥananʼel Bar Ḥushiʼel la-Talmud (in Hebrew). Jerusalem: Mekhon 'Lev Sameaḥ'. p. 215 (Shabbat 109a). OCLC 319767989.
101. "Sunan an-Nasa'i 5113 – The Book of Adornment – كتاب الزينة من السنن – Sunnah.com – Sayings and Teachings of Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه و سلم)". sunnah.com. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
102. Foster, S.; Maher, W.; Krikowa, F.; Telford, K.; Ellwood, M. (2005). "Observations on the measurement of total antimony and antimony species in algae, plant and animal tissues". Journal of Environmental Monitoring. 7 (12): 1214–1219. doi:10.1039/b509202g. PMID 16307074.
103. Gebel, T (1997). "Arsenic and antimony: Comparative approach on mechanistic toxicology". Chemico-Biological Interactions. 107 (3): 131–44. Bibcode:1997CBI...107..131G. doi:10.1016/S0009-2797(97)00087-2. PMID 9448748.
104. McCallum, RI (1977). "President's address. Observations upon antimony". Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine. 70 (11): 756–63. doi:10.1177/003591577707001103. PMC 1543508. PMID 341167.
105. Sundar, S.; Chakravarty, J. (2010). "Antimony Toxicity". International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 7 (12): 4267–4277. doi:10.3390/ijerph7124267. PMC 3037053. PMID 21318007.
106. Antimony MSDS^{[dead link]}. Baker
107. Westerhoff, P; Prapaipong, P; Shock, E; Hillaireau, A (2008). "Antimony leaching from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic used for bottled drinking water". Water Research. 42 (3): 551–6. Bibcode:2008WatRe..42..551W. doi:10.1016/j.watres.2007.07.048. PMID 17707454.
108. Shotyk, W.; Krachler, M.; Chen, B. (2006). "Contamination of Canadian and European bottled waters with antimony from PET containers". Journal of Environmental Monitoring. 8 (2): 288–92. doi:10.1039/b517844b. PMID 16470261. S2CID 9416637.
109. Hansen, Claus; Tsirigotaki, Alexandra; Bak, Søren Alex; Pergantis, Spiros A.; Stürup, Stefan; Gammelgaard, Bente; Hansen, Helle Rüsz (2010). "Elevated antimony concentrations in commercial juices". Journal of Environmental Monitoring. 12 (4): 822–4. doi:10.1039/b926551a. PMID 20383361.
110. Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality (PDF) (4th ed.). World Health Organization. 2011. p. 314. ISBN 978-92-4-154815-1. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022.
111. Wakayama, Hiroshi (2003) "Revision of Drinking Water Standards in Japan", Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (Japan); Table 2, p. 84
112. Screening assessment antimony-containing substances. Health Canada. July 2020. ISBN 978-0-660-32826-3
113. NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards. "#0036". National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
114. "Toxicological Profile for Antimony and Compounds" (PDF). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
115. "Antimony poisoning". Encyclopedia Britannica.
116. Sundar, S; Chakravarty, J (2010). "Antimony Toxicity". International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 7 (12): 4267–4277. doi:10.3390/ijerph7124267. PMC 3037053. PMID 21318007.
117. Davis, E.; Bakulski, K. M.; Goodrich, J. M. (2020). "Low levels of salivary metals, oral microbiome composition and dental decay". Scientific Reports. 10 (1): 14640. Bibcode:2020NatSR..1014640D. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-71495-9. PMC 7474081. PMID 32887894.

Cited sources

• Greenwood, N. N.; Earnshaw, A. (1997). Chemistry of the Elements (2nd ed.). Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. ISBN 0-7506-3365-4.
• Wiberg, Egon; Wiberg, Nils & Holleman, Arnold Frederick (2001). Inorganic chemistry. Academic Press. ISBN 978-0-12-352651-9.

External links

• Public Health Statement for Antimony
• International Antimony Association vzw (i2a)
• Chemistry in its element podcast (MP3) from the Royal Society of Chemistry's Chemistry World: Antimony
• Antimony at The Periodic Table of Videos (University of Nottingham)
• CDC – NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards – Antimony
• Antimony Mineral data and specimen images