Tungsten dichloride dioxide, or tungstyl chloride is the

chemical compound A chemical compound is a chemical substance composed of many identical molecules (or molecular entities) containing atoms from more than one chemical element held together by chemical bonds. A molecule consisting of atoms of only one element ...

with the formula . It is a yellow solid. It is used as a precursor to other tungsten compounds. Like other tungsten halides, is sensitive to moisture, undergoing hydrolysis.

Preparation

is prepared by

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 ...

redistribution reaction In chemistry, redistribution usually refers to the exchange of anionic ligands bonded to metal and metalloid centers. The conversion does not involve redox Redox ( , , reduction–oxidation or oxidation–reduction) is a type of chemical ...

from

tungsten trioxide Tungsten(VI) oxide, also known as tungsten trioxide is a chemical compound of oxygen and the transition metal tungsten, with formula WO3. The compound is also called tungstic anhydride, reflecting its relation to tungstic acid . It is a light ...

and

tungsten hexachloride Tungsten hexachloride is an inorganic chemical compound of tungsten and chlorine with the chemical formula . This dark violet-blue compound exists as volatile crystals under standard conditions. It is an important starting reagent in the prepar ...

: : Using a two-zone

tube furnace A tube furnace is an electric heating device used to conduct syntheses and purifications of inorganic compounds and occasionally in organic synthesis. One possible design consists of a cylindrical cavity surrounded by heating coils that are emb ...

, a vacuum-sealed tube containing these solids is heated to 350 °C. The yellow product sublimes to the cooler end of the reaction tube. No

redox Redox ( , , reduction–oxidation or oxidation–reduction) is a type of chemical reaction in which the oxidation states of the reactants change. Oxidation is the loss of electrons or an increase in the oxidation state, while reduction is t ...

occurs in this process. An alternative route highlights the

oxophilicity Oxophilicity is the tendency of certain chemical compounds to form oxides by hydrolysis or abstraction of an oxygen atom from another molecule, often from organic compounds. The term is often used to describe metal centers, commonly the early trans ...

of tungsten: : This reaction, like the preceding one, proceeds via the intermediacy of .

Structure

Gaseous tungsten dichloride dioxide is a

monomer A monomer ( ; ''mono-'', "one" + '' -mer'', "part") is a molecule that can react together with other monomer molecules to form a larger polymer chain or two- or three-dimensional network in a process called polymerization. Classification Chemis ...

. Solid tungsten dichloride dioxide is a

polymer A polymer () is a chemical substance, substance or material that consists of very large molecules, or macromolecules, that are constituted by many repeat unit, repeating subunits derived from one or more species of monomers. Due to their br ...

consisting of distorted

octahedral In geometry, an octahedron (: octahedra or octahedrons) is any polyhedron with eight faces. One special case is the regular octahedron, a Platonic solid composed of eight equilateral triangles, four of which meet at each vertex. Many types of i ...

W centres. The polymer is characterized by two short W-O distances, typical for a multiple W-O bond, and two long W-O distances more typical of a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

dative In grammar, the dative case (abbreviated , or sometimes when it is a core argument) is a grammatical case used in some languages to indicate the recipient or beneficiary of an action, as in "", Latin for "Maria gave Jacob a drink". In this exampl ...

W-O bond.

Related oxyhalides

Tungsten forms a number of

oxyhalide In chemistry, oxohalides or oxyhalides are a group of chemical compounds with the chemical formula , where X is a halogen, and A is an element different than O and X. Known oxohalides have fluorine (F), chlorine (Cl), bromine (Br), and/or iodine ( ...

s including , , . The corresponding bromides ( , , ) are also known as is .

Reactions

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 ...

, forming soluble adducts of the type , where L is a donor ligand such as

bipyridine Bipyridines are a family of organic compounds with the formula (C5H4N)2, consisting of two pyridyl (C5H4N) rings. Pyridine is an aromatic nitrogen-containing heterocycle. The bipyridines are all colourless solids, which are soluble in organic sol ...

and

dimethoxyethane Dimethoxyethane, also known as glyme, monoglyme, dimethyl glycol, ethylene glycol dimethyl ether, dimethyl cellosolve, and DME, is a colorless, aprotic, and liquid ether that is used as a solvent, especially in batteries. Dimethoxyethane is mi ...

. Such complexes often cannot be prepared by depolymerization of the inorganic solid, but are generated in situ from .K. Dreisch, C. Andersson, C. Stalhandske "Synthesis and structure of dimethoxyethane-dichlorodioxo-tungsten(VI)—a highly soluble derivative of tungsten dioxodichloride" Polyhedron 1991, volume 10, p. 2417.

References

{{Tungsten compounds Tungsten compounds Oxychlorides