Texium - 5-2-2022 at 09:27
The other day at work, I had to prepare a solution of titanium(IV) chloride in toluene to use in a reaction. I prepared it in an amber glass bottle
with a red plastic lid. The next day, I took some out to use it, and was dismayed to see that it had turned a dark orange color, first assuming that
it had leached color out of the lid. The lid appeared to be undamaged though, and then I remembered reading the vague statement on Wikipedia that
“Certain arenes form complexes…[citation needed]” with TiCl4, so I decided to see if
the color was actually caused by the formation of a complex. Sure enough, when I added a few drops of fresh TiCl4 that I had just distilled
two days ago to clean toluene: https://youtu.be/-J-ME6QBMCE
I’ve also attached the paper that originally reported this phenomenon (credit to fluorescence for finding it and sending it to me)
Attachment: j100791a038.pdf (478kB)
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