Erbium(III) chloride is a violet solid with the formula . It is used in the preparation of

erbium Erbium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Er and atomic number 68. A silvery-white solid metal when artificially isolated, natural erbium is always found in chemical combination with other elements. It is a lanthanide, a rare- ...

metal.

Preparation

Anhydrous erbium(III) chloride can be produced by the ammonium chloride route. In the first step,

erbium(III) oxide Erbium(III) oxide is the inorganic compound with the formula . It is a pink paramagnetic solid. It finds uses in various optical materials. Structure Erbium(III) oxide has a cubic structure resembling the bixbyite motif. The Er3+ centers are o ...

is heated with

ammonium chloride Ammonium chloride is an inorganic chemical compound with the chemical formula , also written as . It is an ammonium salt of hydrogen chloride. It consists of ammonium cations and chloride anions . It is a white crystalline salt (chemistry), sal ...

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 In crystallography, the monoclinic crystal system is one of the seven crystal systems. A crystal system is described by three Vector (geometric), vectors. In the monoclinic system, the crystal is described by vectors of unequal lengths, as in t ...

crystals and the

point group In geometry, a point group is a group (mathematics), mathematical group of symmetry operations (isometry, isometries in a Euclidean space) that have a Fixed point (mathematics), fixed point in common. The Origin (mathematics), coordinate origin o ...

''C''2/m. Erbium(III) chloride hexahydrate also forms monoclinic crystals with the point group of ''P''2/''n'' (''P''2/''c'') - ''C''⁴_2h. 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 Catalysis () is the increase in rate of a chemical reaction due to an added substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed by the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recycles quick ...

has been demonstrated in the

acylation In chemistry, acylation is a broad class of chemical reactions in which an acyl group () is added to a substrate. The compound providing the acyl group is called the acylating agent. The substrate to be acylated and the product include the foll ...

alcohols In chemistry, an alcohol (), is a type of organic compound that carries at least one hydroxyl () functional group bound to a Saturated and unsaturated compounds, saturated carbon atom. Alcohols range from the simple, like methanol and ethanol ...

and

phenols In organic chemistry, phenols, sometimes called phenolics, are a class of chemical compounds consisting of one or more hydroxyl groups (− O H) bonded directly to an aromatic hydrocarbon group. The simplest is phenol, . Phenolic compounds ar ...

and in an

amine In chemistry, amines (, ) are organic compounds that contain carbon-nitrogen bonds. Amines are formed when one or more hydrogen atoms in ammonia are replaced by alkyl or aryl groups. The nitrogen atom in an amine possesses a lone pair of elec ...

functionalisation of

furfural Furfural is an organic compound with the formula C4H3OCHO. It is a colorless liquid, although commercial samples are often brown. It has an aldehyde group attached to the 2-position of furan. It is a product of the dehydration of sugars, as occu ...

.''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 Cerium(III) chloride (CeCl3), also known as cerous chloride or cerium trichloride, is a compound of cerium and chlorine. It is a white hygroscopic salt; it rapidly absorbs water to form hydrates, which may be of variable composition.The hexa- and ...

for Luche reductions.

References

{{Lanthanide halides Erbium compounds Chlorides Lanthanide halides