Erbium(III) chloride is a violet solid with the formula . It is used in the preparation of
erbium
Erbium is a chemical element with the symbol Er and atomic number 68. A silvery-white solid metal when artificially isolated, natural erbium is always found in chemical combination with other elements. It is a lanthanide, a rare-earth element, or ...
metal.
Preparation
Anhydrous erbium(III) chloride can be produced by the
ammonium chloride route.
[
] In the first step,
erbium(III) oxide
Erbium(III) oxide is the inorganic compound with the formula . It is a pink paramagnetic solid. It finds uses in various optical materials.
Structure
Erbium(III) oxide has a cubic structure resembling the bixbyite motif. The Er3+ centers are oc ...
is heated with
ammonium chloride to produce the ammonium salt of the pentachloride:
:
In the second step, the ammonium chloride salt is converted to the trichloride by heating in a vacuum at 350-400 ºC:
:
Structural data
Erbium(III) chloride forms crystals of the
type, with
monoclinic
In crystallography, the monoclinic crystal system is one of the seven crystal systems. A crystal system is described by three vectors. In the monoclinic system, the crystal is described by vectors of unequal lengths, as in the orthorhombic s ...
crystals and the
point group ''C''2/m.
Erbium(III) chloride hexahydrate also forms monoclinic crystals with the point group of ''P''2/''n'' (''P''2/''c'') - ''C''
42h. In this compound, erbium is octa-coordinated to form ions with the isolated completing the structure.
Optical properties
Erbium(III) chloride solutions show a
negative nonlinear absorption effect.
Catalytic properties
The use of erbium(III) chloride as a
catalyst
Catalysis () is the process of increasing the rate of a chemical reaction by adding a substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed in the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recyc ...
has been demonstrated in the
acylation
In chemistry, acylation (or alkanoylation) is the chemical reaction in which an acyl group () is added to a compound. The compound providing the acyl group is called the acylating agent.
Because they form a strong electrophile when treated with ...
of
alcohols and
phenols
In organic chemistry, phenols, sometimes called phenolics, are a class of chemical compounds consisting of one or more hydroxyl groups (— O H) bonded directly to an aromatic hydrocarbon group. The simplest is phenol, . Phenolic compounds are ...
and in an
amine
In chemistry, amines (, ) are compounds and functional groups that contain a basic nitrogen atom with a lone pair. Amines are formally derivatives of ammonia (), wherein one or more hydrogen
Hydrogen is the chemical element wi ...
functionalisation of
furfural.
[''Synthesis of trans-4,5-Bis-dibenzylaminocyclopent-2-enone from Furfural Catalyzed by ErCl3·6H2O'' Mónica S. Estevão, Ricardo J. V. Martins, and Carlos A. M. Afonso Journal of Chemical Education 2017 94 (10), 1587-1589 ] It is a catalyst for
Friedel–Crafts-type reactions, and can be used in place of
cerium(III) chloride for
Luche reductions.
References
{{Lanthanide halides
Erbium compounds
Chlorides
Lanthanide halides