Tantalum(V) bromide is the inorganic compound with the formula Ta₂Br₁₀. Its name comes from the compound's

empirical formula In chemistry, the empirical formula of a chemical compound is the simplest whole number ratio of atoms present in a compound. A simple example of this concept is that the empirical formula of sulfur monoxide, or SO, would simply be SO, as is the ...

, TaBr₅. It is a diamagnetic, orange solid that hydrolyses readily. The compound adopts an edge-shared bioctahedral structure, which means that two TaBr₅ units are joined by a pair of bromide bridges. There is no bond between the Ta centres.

Niobium(V) chloride Niobium(V) chloride, also known as niobium pentachloride, is a yellow crystalline solid. It hydrolyzes in air, and samples are often contaminated with small amounts of NbOCl3. It is often used as a precursor to other compounds of niobium. NbCl ...

niobium(V) bromide Niobium(V) bromide is the inorganic compound with the formula Nb2Br10. Its name comes from the compound's empirical formula, NbBr5. It is a diamagnetic, orange solid that hydrolyses readily. The compound adopts an edge-shared bioctahedral struc ...

niobium(V) iodide Niobium(V) iodide is the inorganic compound with the formula Nb2I10. Its name comes from the compound's empirical formula, NbI5. It is a diamagnetic, yellow solid that hydrolyses readily. The compound adopts an edge-shared bioctahedral structur ...

tantalum(V) chloride Tantalum(V) chloride, also known as tantalum pentachloride, is an inorganic compound with the formula TaCl5. It takes the form of a white powder and is commonly used as a starting material in tantalum chemistry. It readily hydrolyzes to form tanta ...

, and

tantalum(V) iodide Tantalum(V) iodide is the inorganic compound with the formula Ta2I10. Its name comes from the compound's empirical formula, TaI5. It is a diamagnetic, black solid that hydrolyses readily. The compound adopts an edge-shared bioctahedral structure, ...

all share this structural motif.

Preparation and handling

The material is usually prepared by the reaction of bromine with tantalum metal (or

tantalum carbide Tantalum carbides (TaC) form a family of binary chemical compounds of tantalum and carbon with the empirical formula TaC''x'', where ''x'' usually varies between 0.4 and 1. They are extremely hard, brittle, refractory ceramic materials with metall ...

) at elevated temperatures in a

tube furnace A tube furnace is an electric heating device used to conduct syntheses and purifications of inorganic compounds and occasionally in organic synthesis. One possible design consists of a cylindrical cavity surrounded by heating coils that are embe ...

. The bromides of the early metals are sometimes preferred to the chlorides because of the relative ease of handling liquid

bromine Bromine is a chemical element with the symbol Br and atomic number 35. It is the third-lightest element in group 17 of the periodic table ( halogens) and is a volatile red-brown liquid at room temperature that evaporates readily to form a simi ...

vs gaseous

chlorine Chlorine is a chemical element with the symbol Cl and atomic number 17. The second-lightest of the halogens, it appears between fluorine and bromine in the periodic table and its properties are mostly intermediate between them. Chlorine i ...

. Like other molecular halides, it is soluble in nonpolar solvents such as carbon tetrachloride (1.465 g/100 mL at 30 °C), but it reacts with some solvents. It can also be produced from the more accessible oxide by metathesis using

aluminium tribromide Aluminium bromide is any chemical compound with the empirical formula AlBrx. Aluminium tribromide is the most common form of aluminium bromide. It is a colorless, sublimable hygroscopic solid; hence old samples tend to be hydrated, mostly as al ...

: :Ta₂O₅ + 3.3 AlBr₃ → 2 TaBr₅ + 3.3 Al₂O₃ Carbothermal reduction of the oxide in the presence of bromine has also been employed, the byproduct being COBr₂.

References

Bromides Tantalum compounds Metal halides {{inorganic-compound-stub