695. Antimony Pentachloride

Nomenclature

CAS number: 7647-18-9
Antimony chloride (SbCl5); antimony perchloride; pentachloroantimony.
Cl5Sb; mol wt 299.03.
Cl 59.28%, Sb 40.72%.
SbCl5.

Description and references

Usually prepd by passing chlorine into molten antimony trichloride. Laboratory procedure: Schenk in Handbook of Preparative Inorganic Chemistry Vol. 1, G. Brauer, Ed. (Academic Press, New York, 2nd ed., 1963) p 610.

Properties

Colorless to yellow, oily liquid. Fumes in air. Cannot be distilled at atmospheric pressures without complete decompn. d416 2.358; d436 2.319; d452 2.289; d478 2.231. mp 3.5°. bp14 68°; bp22 79°; bp30 92°; bp55 85°; bp68 102.5°. Dipole moment: 1.14 at 16.3° in CCl4. Corrosive. Mono- and tetrahydrates are formed in the presence of small amounts of water. Large amounts of water cause hydrolysis to Sb2O5. Sol in hydrochloric acid, chloroform, carbon tetrachloride.

Use

As catalyst when replacing a fluorine substituent with chlorine in organic compounds.