Indium(III) bromide, (indium tribromide), InBr
3, is a chemical compound of
indium
Indium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol In and atomic number 49. It is a silvery-white post-transition metal and one of the softest elements. Chemically, indium is similar to gallium and thallium, and its properties are la ...
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 ...
. It is a
Lewis acid
A Lewis acid (named for the American physical chemist Gilbert N. Lewis) is a chemical species that contains an empty orbital which is capable of accepting an electron pair from a Lewis base to form a Lewis adduct. A Lewis base, then, is any ...
and has been used in organic synthesis.
Structure
It has the same crystal structure as
aluminium trichloride
Aluminium chloride, also known as aluminium trichloride, is an inorganic compound with the formula . It forms a hexahydrate with the formula , containing six water molecules of hydration. Both the anhydrous form and the hexahydrate are col ...
, with 6 coordinate indium atoms.
["Indium: Inorganic chemistry", D.G Tuck, ''Encyclopedia of Inorganic Chemistry'' Editor R Bruce King (1994) John Wiley and Sons ] When molten it is dimeric, In
2Br
6, and predominantly dimeric in the gas phase. The dimer has bridging bromine atoms with a structure similar to dimeric
aluminium trichloride
Aluminium chloride, also known as aluminium trichloride, is an inorganic compound with the formula . It forms a hexahydrate with the formula , containing six water molecules of hydration. Both the anhydrous form and the hexahydrate are col ...
Al
2Cl
6.
Preparation and reactions
It is formed by the reaction of indium and bromine.
[Egon Wiberg, Arnold Frederick Holleman (2001) ''Inorganic Chemistry'', Elsevier ]
InBr
3 forms complexes with
ligand
In coordination chemistry, a ligand is an ion or molecule with a functional group that binds to a central metal atom to form a coordination complex. The bonding with the metal generally involves formal donation of one or more of the ligand's el ...
s, L, InBr
3L, InBr
3L
2, InBr
3L
3.
Reaction with indium metal forms lower valent indium bromides, InBr
2, In
4Br
7, In
2Br
3, In
5Br
7, In
7Br
9,
indium(I) bromide.
In refluxing xylene solution InBr
3 and In metal react to form InBr
2.
References
External links
Indium tribromide at WebElements
{{bromine compounds
Indium compounds
Bromides
Metal halides