Tungsten(IV) chloride is an inorganic compound with the formula WCl₄. It is a diamagnetic black solid. The compound is of interest in research as one of a handful of binary tungsten chlorides.

Structure and preparation

WCl₄ is usually prepared by reduction tungsten hexachloride. Many reductants have been reported, including red phosphorus, tungsten hexacarbonyl, gallium, tin, and antimony. The latter is reported to be optimal: :

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Like most binary metal halides, WCl₄ is polymeric. It consists of linear chains of tungsten atoms each in

octahedral In geometry, an octahedron (plural: octahedra, octahedrons) is a polyhedron with eight faces. The term is most commonly used to refer to the regular octahedron, a Platonic solid composed of eight equilateral triangles, four of which meet a ...

geometry. Of six chloride ligands attached to each W center, four are

bridging ligand In coordination chemistry, a bridging ligand is a ligand that connects two or more atoms, usually metal ions. The ligand may be atomic or polyatomic. Virtually all complex organic compounds can serve as bridging ligands, so the term is usually ...

s. The W-W separations are alternatingly bonding (2.688 Å) and nonbonding (3.787 Å).

Reactions

Reduction of tungsten(IV) chloride with sodium yields the ditungsten(III) heptachloride derivative: :2 WCl₄ + 5 thf + 2 Na → a(thf)₃W₂Cl₇(thf)₂] + NaCl

References

{{Tungsten compounds Chlorides Tungsten halides