Aluminium monochloride, or chloridoaluminium is the

metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...

halide In chemistry, a halide (rarely halogenide) is a binary chemical compound, of which one part is a halogen atom and the other part is an element or radical that is less electronegative (or more electropositive) than the halogen, to make a fl ...

with the formula AlCl. Aluminium monochloride as a molecule is thermodynamically stable at high temperature and low pressure only. This compound is produced as a step in the Alcan process to smelt

aluminium Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

from an aluminium-rich

alloy An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which in most cases at least one is a metal, metallic element, although it is also sometimes used for mixtures of elements; herein only metallic alloys are described. Metallic alloys often have prop ...

. When the alloy is placed in a reactor that is heated to 1,300 °C and mixed with aluminium trichloride, a gas of aluminium monochloride is produced. : It then disproportionates into aluminium melt and aluminium trichloride upon cooling to 900 °C. This molecule has been detected in the

interstellar medium The interstellar medium (ISM) is the matter and radiation that exists in the outer space, space between the star systems in a galaxy. This matter includes gas in ionic, atomic, and molecular form, as well as cosmic dust, dust and cosmic rays. It f ...

, where molecules are so dilute that intermolecular collisions are unimportant.

References

Aluminium(I) compounds Chlorides Metal halides Diatomic molecules {{inorganic-compound-stub

See also

References