Californium(III) iodide is a binary
inorganic compound
In chemistry, an inorganic compound is typically a chemical compound that lacks carbon–hydrogen bonds, that is, a compound that is not an organic compound. The study of inorganic compounds is a subfield of chemistry known as '' inorganic chemist ...
of
californium
Californium is a radioactive chemical element with the symbol Cf and atomic number 98. The element was first synthesized in 1950 at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (then the University of California Radiation Laboratory), by bombarding ...
and
iodine
Iodine is a chemical element with the symbol I and atomic number 53. The heaviest of the stable halogens, it exists as a semi-lustrous, non-metallic solid at standard conditions that melts to form a deep violet liquid at , and boils to a vi ...
with the formula .
Synthesis
Californium triiodide can be prepared in microgram quantities under high vacuum. It can be prepared at 500 °C from californium(III) hydroxide and
hydrogen iodide
Hydrogen iodide () is a diatomic molecule and hydrogen halide. Aqueous solutions of HI are known as hydroiodic acid or hydriodic acid, a strong acid. Hydrogen iodide and hydroiodic acid are, however, different in that the former is a gas under sta ...
:
::
Physical properties
The compound forms a red-orange solid. The triiodide sublimes at ~800 °C without melting. It crystallizes in the trigonal
crystal structure
In crystallography, crystal structure is a description of the ordered arrangement of atoms, ions or molecules in a crystal, crystalline material. Ordered structures occur from the intrinsic nature of the constituent particles to form symmetric pat ...
in the space group R3 (No. 148) with the lattice parameters a = 758.7 pm and c = 2081.4 pm with six formula units per unit cell. Its crystal structure is isotypic with that of
bismuth(III) iodide
Bismuth(III) iodide is the inorganic compound with the formula Bi I3. This gray-black salt is the product of the reaction of bismuth and iodine, which once was of interest in qualitative inorganic analysis.
Bismuth(III) iodide adopts a distinc ...
.
References
Californium compounds
Iodides
Actinide halides
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