Account for the reducing nature of Be even though it has less negative value of reduction potential .
Like alkali metals, the alkaline earth metals are strong reducing agents. This is indicated by large negative values of their reduction potentials However their reducing power is less than those of their corresponding alkali metals. Beryllium has less negative value compared to other alkaline earth metals. However, its reducing nature is due to large hydration energy associated with the small size of Be2+ ion and relatively large value of the atomization enthalpy of the metal.