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Chemical compound From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Samarium(III) chloride, also known as samarium trichloride, is an inorganic compound of samarium and chloride. It is a pale yellow salt that rapidly absorbs water to form a hexahydrate, SmCl3.6H2O.[1] The compound has few practical applications but is used in laboratories for research on new compounds of samarium.
Names | |
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IUPAC name
samarium(III) chloride | |
Other names
samarium trichloride trichlorosamarium | |
Identifiers | |
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3D model (JSmol) |
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ChemSpider | |
ECHA InfoCard | 100.030.712 |
EC Number |
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PubChem CID |
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UNII |
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CompTox Dashboard (EPA) |
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Properties | |
SmCl3 | |
Molar mass | 256.76 g/mol (anhydrous) 364.80 g/mol (hexahydrate) |
Appearance | pale yellow solid (anhydrous)
cream-coloured solid (hexahydrate) |
Density | 4.46 g/cm3 (anhydrous)
2.383 g/cm3 (hexahydrate) |
Melting point | 682 °C (1,260 °F; 955 K) |
Boiling point | decomposes |
92.4 g/100 mL (10 °C) | |
Structure | |
hexagonal, hP8 | |
P63/m, No. 176 | |
Tricapped trigonal prismatic (nine-coordinate) | |
Hazards | |
Occupational safety and health (OHS/OSH): | |
Main hazards |
Irritant |
GHS labelling: | |
Warning | |
H315, H319 | |
P264, P280, P302+P352, P305+P351+P338, P321, P332+P313, P337+P313, P362 | |
Related compounds | |
Other anions |
Samarium(III) fluoride Samarium(III) bromide Samarium(III) oxide |
Other cations |
Samarium(II) chloride Promethium(III) chloride Europium(III) chloride |
Except where otherwise noted, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C [77 °F], 100 kPa).
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Like several related chlorides of the lanthanides and actinides, SmCl3 crystallises in the UCl3 motif. The Sm3+ centres are nine-coordinate, occupying trigonal prismatic sites with additional chloride ligands occupying the three square faces.
SmCl3 is prepared by the "ammonium chloride" route, which involves the initial synthesis of (NH4)2[SmCl5]. This material can be prepared from the common starting materials at reaction temperatures of 230 °C from samarium oxide:[2]
The pentachloride is then heated to 350-400 °C resulting in evolution of ammonium chloride and leaving a residue of the anhydrous trichloride:
It can also be prepared from samarium metal and hydrochloric acid.[3][4]
Aqueous solutions of samarium(III) chloride can be prepared by dissolving metallic samarium or samarium carbonate in hydrochloric acid.
Samarium(III) chloride is a moderately strong Lewis acid, which ranks as "hard" according to the HSAB concept. Aqueous solutions of samarium chloride can be used to prepare samarium trifluoride:
Samarium(III) chloride is used for the preparation of samarium metal, which has a variety of uses, notably in magnets. Anhydrous SmCl3 is mixed with sodium chloride or calcium chloride to give a low melting point eutectic mixture. Electrolysis of this molten salt solution gives the free metal.[5]
Samarium(III) chloride can also be used as a starting point for the preparation of other samarium salts. The anhydrous chloride is used to prepare organometallic compounds of samarium, such as bis(pentamethylcyclopentadienyl)alkylsamarium(III) complexes.[6]
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