Methylation of elemental lead and lead (ii) salts in aqueous solution

Abstract
The reactions of lead powder and a number of lead (II) salts with methyl iodide in aqueous media have been examined. The lead powder underwent relatively rapid methylation and gave detectable quantities of methyllead salts and tetramethyllead within 24hours. The lead (II) salts were methylated to the trimethyllead stage but tetramethyllead was not detectable in these systems, even after 20 days.