Yes. At high pressure, sodium and chlorine can form stable compounds with ratios other than the 1:1 composition of table salt. A 2013 study predicted five such compositions and reported laboratory synthesis of two of them. These materials were made under extreme, nonambient conditions—not as alternatives to ordinary salt.
Why sodium chloride is usually 1:1
At ordinary pressure, familiar sodium chloride (NaCl) has one sodium atom for each chlorine atom. That composition fits the usual picture of sodium losing an electron and chlorine gaining one. But that ambient-pressure pattern does not dictate which compositions can be stable under every possible condition.
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Weiwei Zhang and colleagues reported that high pressure can make unusual sodium–chlorine compositions thermodynamically stable. Their paper, “Unexpected stable stoichiometries of sodium chlorides,” appeared in Science on 20 December 2013. The paper’s abstract describes the result as evidence that compounds at odds with chemical intuition can be thermodynamically stable in simple systems at nonambient conditions. PubMed’s record of the paper provides its bibliographic details and abstract.
Which unusual compositions were predicted—and which were made?
The team combined computational crystal-structure prediction with experiments. Its USPEX code searched for possible crystal structures at specified pressures and temperatures. The prediction set was broader than the compounds synthesized in the laboratory:
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| Composition | What the study reported |
|---|---|
| Na3Cl | Predicted; the study also reports synthesis of a two-dimensional metallic tetragonal form. |
| Na2Cl | Predicted as a stable composition; not among the synthesized compounds identified in the paper’s abstract. |
| Na3Cl2 | Predicted as a stable composition; not among the synthesized compounds identified in the paper’s abstract. |
| NaCl3 | Predicted; cubic and orthorhombic forms were synthesized. |
| NaCl7 | Predicted as a stable composition; not among the synthesized compounds identified in the paper’s abstract. |
“Predicted” and “synthesized” are not interchangeable. The calculations identified compositions and structures expected to be stable under pressure; experiments then confirmed selected examples. The study did not report making all five predicted compounds.
How the experiments produced them
The researchers compressed samples in a diamond anvil cell and used laser heating. The Chemistry World report describes experiments across 10–80 GPa and says the team varied which element was in excess: excess chlorine was used to produce NaCl3, while excess sodium was used for Na3Cl. Those are laboratory pressure conditions, not pressures encountered in ordinary cooking or storage.
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Chlorine-rich NaCl3
Chemistry World reported two NaCl3 phases: one formed above 18 GPa and another beyond 54 GPa. The paper reports that cubic and orthorhombic NaCl3 were synthesized. The pressure thresholds are the news report’s stated experimental conditions; they should not be read as a claim that the material remains stable at everyday pressure.
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The report says the team synthesized Na3Cl and that it remained stable down to 20 GPa. The paper identifies the synthesized form as two-dimensional, metallic, and tetragonal. “Down to 20 GPa” describes the reported high-pressure stability range, not stability after release to ambient conditions.
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What “breaking chemical rules” means here
The result challenges simple expectations based on ambient-pressure chemistry; it does not show that charge balance or other chemical principles cease to apply universally. Pressure changes the conditions under which atoms and electrons arrange themselves, allowing compositions that are unfavorable at ordinary pressure to become thermodynamically stable.
Artem Oganov, a researcher quoted by Chemistry World, said: “Rules of chemistry as fundamental as charge balance and octet rules can break down at relatively moderate pressures.” In context, “moderate” is relative to extreme-pressure research: the reported experiments reached tens of gigapascals. The report also described theoretical predictions extending to 250 GPa, a calculation range rather than an experimental measurement across that entire span.
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Why the discovery matters—and what it does not establish
The work shows that familiar chemical systems may have unexpected compositions and structures under nonambient conditions. Oganov also said, “States with unexpected chemistry that are then formed have multiple unusual properties that can be exploited.” That statement expresses potential, not a demonstrated application. Yanming Ma, another researcher quoted in the report, said: “The work demonstrates again that high pressure is a powerful tool in the synthesis of novel materials, violating conventional wisdom established at ambient pressure.”
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The experiments establish high-pressure synthesis, not a consumer product or a usable replacement for table salt. The reported compounds required specialized pressure and heating conditions, and the cited paper and news report do not establish that they can be retained as stable materials at ordinary conditions. The finding is therefore about the range of chemistry possible under pressure—not a new kind of seasoning.
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