Erbium(III) chloride is a violet solid with the formula . It is used in the preparation of erbium metal.
Preparation
Anhydrous erbium(III) chloride can be produced by the ammonium chloride route. In the first step, erbium(III) oxide is heated with ammonium chloride to produce the ammonium salt of the pentachloride:
In the second step, the ammonium chloride salt is converted to the trichloride by heating in a vacuum at 350-400 °C:
Structural data Erbium(III) chloride forms crystals of the type, with monoclinic crystals and the point group C2/m.
Erbium(III) chloride hexahydrate also forms monoclinic crystals with the point group of P2/n (P2/c) - C42h. In this compound, erbium is octa-coordinated to form ions with the isolated completing the structure.
Optical properties Erbium(III) chloride solutions show a negative nonlinear absorption effect.
Catalytic properties The use of erbium(III) chloride as a catalyst has been demonstrated in the acylation of alcohols and phenolsDalpozzo Renato, De Nino Antonio, Maiuolo Loredana, Oliverio Manuela, Procopio Antonio, Russo Beatrice, Tocci Amedeo (2007) Erbium(iii) Chloride: a Very Active Acylation Catalyst. Australian Journal of Chemistry 60, 75-79. and in an amine functionalisation of furfural.Synthesis of trans-4,5-Bis-dibenzylaminocyclopent-2-enone from Furfural Catalyzed by ErCl3·6H2O Mónica S. Estevão, Ricardo J. V. Martins, and Carlos A. M. Afonso Journal of Chemical Education 2017 94 (10), 1587-1589 It is a catalyst for Friedel–Crafts-type reactions, and can be used in place of cerium(III) chloride for Luche reductions.
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