Arsenic Phosphides

Black or brown products of indefinite character, to which have been ascribed the formulae As₂P and AsP, have been obtained by various methods, such as (1) by heating the elements together, (2) by allowing phosphorus to stand in solutions of arsenious acid, and (3) by the action of phosphine on arsenic halides. The properties of these substances resemble in general those which would be possessed by mixtures of the two elements; thus, they burn in air to give the mixed oxides, decompose on heating with vaporisation of first phosphorus and then arsenic, and are oxidised by nitric acid.