Scandium bromide, or ScBr₃, is a trihalide,

hygroscopic Hygroscopy is the phenomenon of attracting and holding water molecules via either absorption (chemistry), absorption or adsorption from the surrounding Natural environment, environment, which is usually at normal or room temperature. If water mol ...

water-soluble In chemistry, solubility is the ability of a substance, the solute, to form a solution with another substance, the solvent. Insolubility is the opposite property, the inability of the solute to form such a solution. The extent of the solub ...

chemical compound A chemical compound is a chemical substance composed of many identical molecules (or molecular entities) containing atoms from more than one chemical element held together by chemical bonds. A molecule consisting of atoms of only one element ...

scandium Scandium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Sc and atomic number 21. It is a silvery-white metallic d-block, d-block element. Historically, it has been classified as a rare-earth element, together with yttrium and the lantha ...

and

bromine Bromine is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Br and atomic number 35. It is a volatile red-brown liquid at room temperature that evaporates readily to form a similarly coloured vapour. Its properties are intermediate between th ...

Preparation and properties

ScBr₃ is produced through the burning of scandium in bromine gas. :2 Sc(s) + 3 Br₂(g) → 2 ScBr₃(s) Scandium bromide can also be prepared by reacting excess

hydrobromic acid Hydrobromic acid is an aqueous solution of hydrogen bromide. It is a strong acid formed by dissolving the diatomic molecule hydrogen bromide (HBr) in water. "Constant boiling" hydrobromic acid is an aqueous solution that distills at and contains ...

with

scandium oxide Scandium(III) oxide or scandia is a inorganic compound with formula scandium, Sc2oxygen, O3. It is one of several oxides of rare earth elements with a high melting point. It is used in the preparation of other scandium compounds as well as in high ...

, and the hexahydrate can be crystallized from the solution. The thermal decomposition of hexahydrate can only yield scandium oxybromide (ScOBr) and scandium oxide. The anhydrous form can be produced by the reaction of bromine, scandium oxide and

graphite Graphite () is a Crystallinity, crystalline allotrope (form) of the element carbon. It consists of many stacked Layered materials, layers of graphene, typically in excess of hundreds of layers. Graphite occurs naturally and is the most stable ...

nitrogen Nitrogen is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a Nonmetal (chemistry), nonmetal and the lightest member of pnictogen, group 15 of the periodic table, often called the Pnictogen, pnictogens. ...

gas. Heating reaction between ammonium bromide and scandium oxide or scandium bromide hexahydrate, through (NH₄)₃ScBr₆ intermediate, decomposes to obtain anhydrous scandium bromide.

Uses

Scandium bromide is used for solid state synthesis of unusual clusters such as Sc₁₉Br₂₈Z₄, (Z=Mn, Fe, Os or Ru). These clusters are of interest for their structure and magnetic properties.

References

{{inorganic bromides Bromides Scandium compounds Metal halides