Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Evaporation of Ferric Chloride

ScienceHideout - 10-10-2011 at 13:23

Okay... So I bought a ferric chloride etchent from radio shack. I thought it would be of more use if I boiled off the crap ;) - the MSDS says water and hydrochloric acid. I was using a coors evaporation dish on a ring stand with triangle over a bunsen burner with a watch glass on top in my hood. It was going real smoothly. :o My finished product was red-brown-black and nearly impossible to get out... not to mention insoluble. Iron oxide, I assume :mad: ? How can I avoid this and get that good ol' ferric chloride I deserve?

Lambda-Eyde - 10-10-2011 at 13:40

If you had bothered to read the Wikipedia article, you would have known that FeCl<sub>3</sub> (as well as other strong Lewis acids) hydrolyzes in solution...

[Edited on 10-10-2011 by Lambda-Eyde]

ScienceHideout - 10-10-2011 at 13:44

I didn't know that Ferric chloride hydrolyzes... :o I don't like wikipedia too much-

Is there a way to prevent hydrolysis?

blogfast25 - 11-10-2011 at 04:38

Quote: Originally posted by Lambda-Eyde  
If you had bothered to read the Wikipedia article, you would have known that FeCl<sub>3</sub> (as well as other strong Lewis acids) hydrolyzes in solution...

[Edited on 10-10-2011 by Lambda-Eyde]


Half right.

FeCl3 does hydrolyse but it can be crystallised from a strong (azeotropic) HCl solution, which very effectively suppresses the hydrolysis. I've obtained solid FeCl3.6H2O and posted the pictures here. Many outlets sell solid ferric chloride hexahydrate. It's no big deal...