Plutonium(III) iodide is the iodide of plutonium with the chemical formula PuI3.
Preparation
Plutonium(III) iodide can be formed by the reaction of plutonium and mercury(II) iodide:Georg Brauer (Hrsg.), unter Mitarbeit von Marianne Baudler u. a.: Handbuch der Präparativen Anorganischen Chemie. 3., umgearbeitete Auflage. Band II, Ferdinand Enke, Stuttgart 1978, ISBN 3-432-87813-3, S. 1304.
It can also be produced by reacting plutonium and hydrogen iodide at 450 °C. Even if there is only a small amount of oxygen and water in the reaction, the generated plutonium(III) iodide will immediately hydrolyze into plutonium oxyiodide.
Properties
Plutonium(III) iodide is a green solid with a melting point of 777 °C. It is orthorhombic (plutonium(III) bromide structure), space group Ccmm (No. 63), lattice parameters a = 433 pm, b = 1395 pm and c = 996 pm.
References
External reading