Rahul Sharma (Editor)

Holmium(III) chloride

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Formula
  
HoCl3

Density
  
3.7 g/cm³

Melting point
  
720 °C

Molar mass
  
271.2 g/mol

Boiling point
  
1,500 °C

Holmium(III) chloride httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

Appearance
  
yellow crystals; hygroscopic

Holmium(III) chloride is the inorganic compound with the formula HoCl3. It is a common salt but is mainly used in research. It exhibits the same color-changing behavior seen in holmium oxide, being a yellow in natural lighting and a bright pink color in fluorescent lighting.

Contents

Preparation

It forms upon union of the elements, but a more commonly used method involves heating a mixture of holmium(III) oxide and ammonium chloride at 200-250 °C:

Ho2O3 + 6 NH4Cl → 2 HoCl3 + 6 NH3 + 2 H2O

Structure

In the solid state it has the YCl3 layer structure.

References

Holmium(III) chloride Wikipedia
(Text) CC BY-SA