Tungsten(V) chloride is an
inorganic compound with the formula
W2 Cl10. This compound is analogous in many ways to the more familiar
molybdenum pentachloride
Molybdenum(V) chloride is the inorganic compound with the empirical formula . This dark volatile solid is used in research to prepare other molybdenum compounds. It is moisture-sensitive and soluble in chlorinated solvents.
Structure
Usually call ...
.
The material is prepared by reduction of
tungsten hexachloride
Tungsten hexachloride is the chemical compound of tungsten and chlorine with the formula WCl6. This dark violet blue species exists as a volatile solid under standard conditions. It is an important starting reagent in the preparation of tungsten ...
. One method involves the use of
tetrachloroethylene
Tetrachloroethylene, also known under the systematic name tetrachloroethene, or perchloroethylene, and many other names (and abbreviations such as "perc" or "PERC", and "PCE"), is a chlorocarbon with the formula Cl2C=CCl2 . It is a colorless li ...
as the reductant
:2 WCl
6 + C
2Cl
4 → W
2Cl
10 + C
2Cl
6
The blue green solid is volatile under vacuum and slightly soluble in nonpolar solvents. The compound is
oxophilic
Oxophilicity is the tendency of certain chemical compounds to form oxides by hydrolysis or abstraction of an oxygen atom from another molecule, often from organic compounds. The term is often used to describe metal centers, commonly the early trans ...
and is highly reactive toward
Lewis bases.
Structure
The compound exists as a dimer, with a pair of octahedral tungsten(V) centres
bridged by two chloride ligands. The W---W separation is 3.814 Å, which is non-bonding. The compound is isostructural with Nb
2Cl
10 and Mo
2Cl
10. The compound evaporates to give trigonal bipyramidal WCl
5 monomers.
References
Chlorides
Tungsten halides
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