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Author: Subject: Aluminium Trichloride
AndersHoveland
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[*] posted on 5-1-2012 at 01:03


If you simply try "reacting" aluminum with chlorine, there is not going to be any observable reaction. The layer of aluminum chloride that forms on the surface will prevent further reaction. Only two ways to avoid this. Either use a solvent that can dissolve the AlCl3 as it forms, or ignite the aluminum so that it burns in the chlorine gas. The first of these would be much more practical, as I suspect it may be rather difficult to get aluminum to ignite in the chlorine (unless a burning piece of magnesium ribbon is used).

[Edited on 5-1-2012 by AndersHoveland]
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Lambda-Eyde
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[*] posted on 5-1-2012 at 01:39


With a proper tube furnace the preparation would be facile. Substituting HCl for the chlorine would allow the reaction to proceed at a lower temperature, but hydrogen would obviously be the byproduct.

I have yet to see anyone perform a low-temperature reaction in a solvent to produce AlCl<sub>3</sub>. You'd have to find a solvent that's inert to Al powder, chlorine gas and the trichloride. Halogenated solvents don't like metals (although I don't know how bad Al is compared to, say Na), aromatics react with chlorine in the presence of lewis acids and so on... Peach's experiment with HCl in DCM didn't turn out to be a success, either.




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[*] posted on 5-1-2012 at 01:46


Quote: Originally posted by unionised  
Mixtures of Al with CCl4 can be detonated.

With any luck, just ask member Zinc
http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=5777#p...
http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=5777#p...

Industrially this has only been known to occur in large vat quantities
It might be possible to sensitize the mixture by adding a pinch of Iodine
but try this only on miniscule quantities without containment.

.
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AndersHoveland
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[*] posted on 5-1-2012 at 12:55


Quote: Originally posted by Lambda-Eyde  

I have yet to see anyone perform a low-temperature reaction in a solvent to produce AlCl<sub>3</sub>. You'd have to find a solvent that's inert to Al powder, chlorine gas and the trichloride. Halogenated solvents don't like metals (although I don't know how bad Al is compared to, say Na), aromatics react with chlorine in the presence of lewis acids and so on... Peach's experiment with HCl in DCM didn't turn out to be a success, either.


Under certain conditions, elemental sodium can actually be dissolved in ethers without reaction. One would think that aluminum would also be similarly unreactive at room temperature.
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ja00197a075

Ethyl ether is not readily reactive with either sodium, or chlorine, and it is known to be able to dissolve AlCl3 as a loosely bound adduct.

Wikipedia, however, states that under some conditions aluminum tribromide can cleave ethers, forming bromoalkanes. If this is true, it suggests that it may not be possible to prepare AlBr3 or AlI3 by this method. These two lower halogens tend to be much better leaving groups than chlorine.

Aluminium tribromide reacts with carbon tetrachloride at 100 °C to form carbon tetrabromide. According to wikipedia, AlBr3 has a lower melting point (97.8 °C, below the boiling point of water) than the other halogen compounds of aluminum, so it would likely be feasible to prepare it by direct combination of the elements, simply refluxing liquid bromine with aluminum foil. Might require just a drop of mercury to begin the reaction.


[Edited on 5-1-2012 by AndersHoveland]
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neptunium
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[*] posted on 5-1-2012 at 14:08


there is a video on youtube ! i apologize i dont have the link but you can find it .
also bromine is known to react readily with Al given a few seconds it will burn in Br2 . and produce AlBr3 smokes that can be condensed..
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[*] posted on 5-1-2012 at 14:15


Len has described the preparation of aluminium bromide in his book. I copied the procedure in this thread.



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[*] posted on 17-1-2012 at 19:17


thats it i am gonna prepare AlCl3 from its bromide...got Br2 got Al foil and easy to get Cl2...see you in a few days...
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[*] posted on 17-1-2012 at 20:49


Quote: Originally posted by AndersHoveland  
Ethyl ether is not readily reactive with either sodium, or chlorine, and it is known to be able to dissolve AlCl3 as a loosely bound adduct.


I am inclined to instead trust Thorpe's Dictionary of Applied Chemistry:

"Chlorine acts violently upon ether, setting fire to it, and liberating carbon (Cruikshank). If the ether be kept cool by ice, and in the dark, substitution products are obtained. The Cl replaces the H atom by atom from one ethyl group first..."




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AndersHoveland
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[*] posted on 19-1-2012 at 00:11


Bromine can be dissolved in ethyl ether without immediate reaction.

from wikipedia:
Quote:

Löwig used a solution of the mineral salt saturated with chlorine and extracted the bromine with diethyl ether. After evaporation of the ether a brown liquid remained.


I thought that I found a source that mentioned anhydrous zinc chloride being prepared by passing chlorine into ethyl ether with zinc, but unfortunately I cannot find it now.


Quote:

Ethers are relatively chemically inert...

Reactions Involving Alkyl Radicals
When diethyl ether reacts with chlorine in the presence of sunlight, the main product is perchlorodiethyl ether. In the presence of sunlight all the hydrogen atoms of ether are substituted by halogen atoms. In the dark, 1,1'-dichlorodiethyl ether forms.

http://books.google.com/books?id=vj9BGa5F43wC&pg=PA1023&...

Even if the ether is immediately chlorinated by the chlorine, the reaction between the chlorine and zinc could still proceed. The text is not clear on whether the reaction in the dark is immediate.

This also might be related to the chemistry:
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ja01364a058


Also found this:
Quote:

Anhydrous zinc-chloride may be prepared by distilling 1 pt. of zinc-filings with 2 pts of mercuric chloride, or 1 pt. zinc-oxide with 2 pts. sal-ammoniac....


So perhaps distilling NH4Cl with aluminum foil could potentially form liquid aluminum trichloride. On the other hand, this might only work for making zinc chloride, because AlCl3 is a much stronger Lewis acid. The reaction product might just be the formation of aluminum nitride on the surface.
"Reaction study of aluminium chloride with ammonia and mechanisms leading to aluminium nitride" M. Pouget and J. P. Lecompte

Aluminium chloride sublimes (turns straight from a solid to a gas) at about 180°C.


[Edited on 19-1-2012 by AndersHoveland]
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[*] posted on 19-1-2012 at 06:00


Congratulations on your new status Mr. Anders
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neptunium
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[*] posted on 19-1-2012 at 06:27


i need a solvent that could disolve Al2Br6 (and AlCl3), i made the tribromide and would like my bromine back please...

bromine small.JPG - 113kB Br2 + Al action.JPG - 150kB AlBr3.JPG - 177kB

[Edited on 19-1-2012 by neptunium]




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AndersHoveland
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[*] posted on 19-1-2012 at 12:34


Quote: Originally posted by neptunium  
i need a solvent that could disolve Al2Br6 (and AlCl3),


Aluminum tribromide is soluble in benzene.
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ja01266a505

you might see
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ja01231a037

As for the AlCl3, it can be dissolved in ethyl ether. I have previously provided a reference for this in the thread. But the solution of AlCl3 and ether is liable to undergo a reaction if heated.

[Edited on 19-1-2012 by AndersHoveland]
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[*] posted on 19-1-2012 at 12:55


NH4Cl + fine(?) Al seems like the most feasible idea to me. Or maybe dry HCl directly into pyro dark Al. Any moisture in the HCl could be removed by say Calcium carbide--but you might not have something like that lying around.



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[*] posted on 19-1-2012 at 14:14


nope...got a little bit of toluene to clean that Al bromide though...i m gonna try that . thanks



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