Tungsten hexachloride, or tungsten (VI) chloride, is a blue-black or blue violet crystalline solid at room temperature, with CAS No. of 13283-01-7, molecular formula of WCl6, relative density of 3.52 (25°C), and purity of up to 99%~99.99 %. At lower temperatures, WCl6 becomes wine-red in color. A red form of the compound can be made by rapidly condensing its vapor, which reverts to the blue-black form on gentle heating.
Properties
1. Soluble in carbon disulfide, ether, ethanol, benzene, phosphorus oxychloride and carbon tetrachloride, etc.
2. Easily decomposed in hot water. WCl6 containing tungsten oxychloride (WOCl4, WO2Cl2) can easily be decomposed by water vapor.
3. Oxidized by heating in the air to obtain tungsten oxychloride or tungsten oxide.
4. Reduced by hydrogen (H2) at high temperature to obtain tungsten powder.
5. An aggressively corrosive oxidant, and hydrolyzes to release hydrogen chloride.
6. Exist as a volatile solid under standard conditions.
Preparation
Tungsten hexachloride is prepared by chlorinating tungsten metal in a sealed tube at 600°C:
W + 3 Cl2 → WCl6
Applications
1. For the purification of tungsten and organic synthesis.
2. For tungsten plating by vapor deposition method.
3. As a catalyst in chemical industry, such as olefin polymerization catalyst.
4. For surface coating, widely used in automotive, glass industries and other fields of new materials.
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