7705-08-0

Basic information

• Product Name: Ferric chloride
• Synonyms: Chlorure perrique;chlorureferrique;chlorureferrique(french);chlorureperrique;FeCl3;Ferric chloride anhydrous;ferricchloride(iron(iii);ferricchloride(iron(iii)chloride)
• CAS NO: 7705-08-0
• Molecular Formula: Cl₃Fe
• Molecular Weight: 162.2
• EINECS: 231-729-4
• Product Categories: Inorganic Salt;Inorganics;metal halide
• Mol File: 7705-08-0.mol

Chemical Properties

• Melting Point: 304 °C(lit.)
• Boiling Point: 316 °C
• Flash Point: 316°C
• Appearance: Yellow/powder
• Density: 2,804 g/cm3
• Vapor Density: 5.61 (vs air)
• Vapor Pressure: 1 mm Hg ( 194 °C)
• Refractive Index: n20/D1.414
• Storage Temp.: 2-8°C
• Solubility: H2O: soluble
• Water Solubility: 920 g/L (20 ºC)
• Sensitive: Hygroscopic
• Stability: Stable. Very sensitive to moisture. Incompatible with strong oxidizing agents; forms explosive mixtures with sodium, potassium.
• Merck: 14,4019
• CAS DataBase Reference: Ferric chloride(CAS DataBase Reference)
• NIST Chemistry Reference: Ferric chloride(7705-08-0)
• EPA Substance Registry System: Ferric chloride(7705-08-0)

Safety Data

• Hazard Codes: C,Xn,Xi
• Statements: 41-38-22-34-37/38-10-36
• Safety Statements: 26-39-45-36/37/39
• RIDADR: UN 2582 8/PG 3
• WGK Germany: 1
• RTECS: LJ9100000
• TSCA: Yes
• HazardClass: 8
• PackingGroup: III
• Hazardous Substances Data: 7705-08-0(Hazardous Substances Data)

Usage

Uses

1. Used in Water Treatment and Sewage Industry:
Ferric chloride is used as a purifying agent in water supply and as a coagulant in municipal and industrial wastewater treatment. Its rapid hydrolysis in water makes it an ideal flocculating and precipitating agent, forming ferric hydroxide (Fe[OH]3) flocs that adsorb suspended particles for easy removal.
2. Used in Chemical Manufacturing:
Ferric chloride is used in the production of various iron(III) salts, dyes, pigments, and inks. It also serves as a chlorinating agent, a catalyst in chlorination reactions of aromatics, and an alternative to anhydrous AlCl3 in Friedel-Crafts reactions.
3. Used in Electronics Industry:
As an etching medium, ferric chloride is used in the production of printed circuit boards (PCBs), where it helps in engraving and etching processes.
4. Used in Mining and Mineral Processing:
Ferric chloride has a depressing effect on barite and can be used in barite-celestite separation. It has also been evaluated as a depressant during niobium-zirconium separation.
5. Used in Agriculture:
Ferric chloride serves as a nutrient and dietary supplement, providing a source of iron for agricultural purposes.
6. Used in Environmental Applications:
It is used as a disinfectant, oxidizing, chlorinating, and condensing agent in various environmental applications.
7. Used in Laboratory Settings:
Anhydrous ferric chloride (FeCl3) can be used as an alternative to anhydrous AlCl3 in Friedel-Crafts reactions, acting as a catalyst and promoting the alkylation or acylation of aromatic rings.
8. Used in the Detection of Certain Compounds:
Ferric chloride is useful in the detection of phenols, phenolic derivatives, gamma-hydroxybutyric acids, and in the Trinder spot test for detecting salicylic acids.

Production Methods

Iron(III) chloride forms passing chlorine gas over iron filings at 350°C: 2Fe + 3Cl2 → 2FeCl3 It also forms heating iron(III) oxide with HCl at elevated temperatures: Fe2O3 + 6HCl → 2FeCl3 + 3H2O The product may be sublimed in a stream of chlorine to give high purity grade iron(III) chloride. The anhydrous chloride also may be made by heating the hexahydrate, FeCl3?6H2O, with thionyl chloride: FeCl3?6H2O + 6SOCl2 → FeCl3 + 12HCl + SO2

Air & Water Reactions

Very hygroscopic. Slightly water soluble, where a 0.1M solution has a pH of 2.0.

Reactivity Profile

Alkali metal hydroxides, acids, anhydrous chlorides of iron, tin, and aluminum, pure oxides of iron and aluminum, and metallic potassium are some of the catalysts that may cause ethylene oxide to rearrange and polymerize, liberating heat, [J. Soc. Chem. Ind. 68:179(1949)]. Explosions occur , although infrequently, from the combination of ethylene oxide and alcohols or mercaptans, [Chem. Eng. News 20:1318(1942)]. Allyl chloride may polymerize violently under conditions involving an acid catalyst, such as sulfuric acid, Ferric chloride, aluminum chloride, Lewis acids, and Ziegler type catalysts (initiators), [Ventrone (1971)].

Hazard

Toxic by ingestion, strong irritant to skin and tissue.

Health Hazard

Inhalation of dust may irritate nose and throat. Ingestion causes irritation of mouth and stomach. Dust irritates eyes. Prolonged contact with skin causes irritation and burns.

Flammability and Explosibility

Nonflammable

Safety Profile

Poison by ingestion and intravenous routes. Experimental reproductive effects. Corrosive. Probably an eye, skin, and mucous membrane irritant. Mutation data reported. Reacts with water to produce toxic and corrosive fumes. Catalyzes potentially explosive polymerization of ethylene oxide, chlorine + monomers (e.g., styrene). Forms shock sensitive explosive mixtures with some metals (e.g., potassium, sodium). Violent reaction with all$ chloride. When heated to decomposition it emits highly toxic fumes of HCl.

Potential Exposure

Iron chloride is used to treat sewage and industrial waste. It is also used as an etchant for photo engraving and rotogravure; in textiles; photography; as a disinfectant; as a feed additive.

Shipping

UN1773 Ferric chloride, anhydrous, Hazard class: 8; Labels: 8-Corrosive material. UN2582 Ferric chlo ride, solution, Hazard class: 8; Labels: 8-Corrosive material

Purification Methods

Sublime it at 200o in an atmosphere of chlorine. It is an “iron-black” coloured powder with green irridescence. Store it in a weighing bottle inside a desiccator as it absorbs moisture from air to form the yellow hexahydrate (see next entry). [Tarr Inorg Synth III 191 1950, Pray Inorg Synth V 153 1957, Epperson Inorg Synth VII 163 1963.]

Structure and conformation

The crystalline solid has a semicovalent layer structure with hexagonal packing of chloride ions, each iron atom being surrounded octahedrally by six chlorines in a BiI3 type structure. The dimers in the vapour phase have a structure similar to that of Al2Cl6 with the iron atoms surrounded by chlorines in a roughly tetrahedral fashion. The magnetic properties of iron(III) chloride in its different environments have been investigated extensively. The magnetic moment at 290°K is 5-73 B.M. and is independent of the field strength. In aqueous hydrochloric acid the room temperature moment is 5-94 B.M. and the hexahydrate has a similar moment (5-95 B.M.).

Incompatibilities

Aqueous solutions are a strong acid. Violent reaction with bases, allyl chloride; sulfuric acid; water. Shock- and friction-sensitive explosive material forms with potassium, sodium and other active metals. Attacks metals when wet.

Waste Disposal

Neutralize with lime or soda ash and bury in an approved landfill.

InChI:InChI=1/3ClH.Fe/h3*1H;/q;;;+3/p-3

Upstream product

• 75-44-5 phosgene 
• 7446-70-0 aluminium trichloride 
• 64-17-5 ethanol 
• 7732-18-5 water 
• 7651-37-8 iron(III) chloride*diethyl ether 
• 56-23-5 tetrachloromethane 
• 765207-04-3 iron(III) phosphate 
• 7782-50-5 chlorine 
• 7647-01-0 hydrogenchloride 
• 121714-78-1 iron(III) chloride hexahydrate 
• 7647-14-5 sodium chloride 
• 7719-09-7 thionyl chloride 
• 10025-67-9 disulfur dichloride 
• 7791-25-5 sulfuryl dichloride 

Downstream Products

• 626-61-9 4-Chloropyridine 
• 2233-29-6 2,3,4-lutidine 
• 56-23-5 tetrachloromethane 
• 124-04-9 Adipic acid 
• 108-31-6 maleic anhydride 
• 96-02-6 2-chloromaleic anhydride 
• 1122-17-4 dichloromaleic acid anhydride 
• 1134-35-6 4,4'-dimethyl-2,2'-bipyridines 
• 32464-78-1 5-methyl-1-phenylpyrazole-3-carbaldehyde 
• 1689-77-6 2,5-di-tert-butylthiophene 
• 40196-78-9 3-bromo-2,5-di-tert-butyl-thiophene 
• 92-84-2 10H-phenothiazine 
• 36845-81-5 1-(5-methyl-1-phenyl-1H-pyrazol-3-yl)-ethanone 
• 16064-14-5 6-chloroquinazolin-4-one 

Relevant articles and documents

The electronic structures of an isostructural series of octahedral nitrosyliron complexes {Fe-NO}6,7,8 elucidated by Mossbauer spectroscopy

From the reaction of cis-[(cyclam)Fe(III)(Cl)2]Cl (cyclam = 1,4,8,11- tetraazacyclotetradecane) with hydroxylamine in water the octahedral nitrosyliron complexes trans-[(cyclam)Fe(NO)Cl](ClO4) (1) and cis- [(cyclam)Fe(NO)I]I (2) have been isolated as crystalline solids. EPR spectroscopy and variable-temperature susceptibility measurements established that 1 possesses an S = 1/2 and 2 an S = 3/2 ground state; both species are of the {Fe-NO}7 type. Electrochemically, 1 can be reversibly one-electron oxidized yielding trans-[(cyclam)Fe(NO)Cl]2+, an {Fe-NO}6 species, and one-electron reduced yielding trans-[(cyclam)Fe(NO)Cl]0, an {Fe-NO}8 species. These complexes have been characterized in CH3CN solutions by UV- vis and EPR spectroscopy; both possess a singlet ground state. All of these nitrosyliron complexes, including [LFe(NO)(N3)2] (S = 3/2; L = 1,4,7- trimethyl-1,4,7-triazacyclononane) and [L'Fe(NO)(ONO)(NO2)](ClO4) (S = 0; L' = 1,4,7-triazacyclononane), have been studied by variable-temperature Mossbauer spectroscopy both in zero and applied fields. The oxidation of 1 is best described as metal-centered yielding a complex with an Fe(IV) (S = 1) coupled antiferromagnetically to an NO- (S = 1), whereas its reduction is ligand-centered and yields a species with a low-spin ferric ion (S = 1/2 ) antiferromagnetically coupled to an NO2- (S = 1/2 ). In agreement with Solomon et al. (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1995, 117, 715) both {Fe-NO}7 (S = 3/2) species in this work are described as high-spin ferric (S = 5/2) antiferromagnetically coupled to an NO- (S = 1). Complex 1 is proposed to contain an intermediate spin ferric ion (S = 3/2) antiferromagnetically coupled to NO- (S = 1). The alternative descriptions as low-spin ferric antiferromagnetically coupled to NO- (S = 1) or low-spin ferric with an NO- (S = 0) ligand are ruled out by the applied field Mossbauer spectra.

Reaction of a mixture of bismuth and iron oxides with chlorine and sulfur dioxide

The processes in a heterogenous multicomponent system Bi2O 3-Fe2O3-Cl2-SO2. are explored. In the temperature range 300-700°C is clearly developed mutual influence of chemical reactions at introducing to the system of an additional component: chloridosublimation of both bismuth and iron in the presence of SO2 and chloridosublimation of bismuth at adding iron oxide to bismuth oxide are accelerated. In the region of the higher temperatures the possible chemical reactions in the system proceed independently: SO2 only dilutes chlorine and mutual influence of bismuth and iron oxides is not found.

Density functional theory assessment of the thermal degradation of diclofenac and its calcium and iron complexes

Thermogravimetric analyses of diclofenac sodium, its Ca2+ and Fe3+ complexes manifested a decreasing trend of the onset decomposition temperatures at which these compounds dissociated. The drop in the temperature was metal ion dependent; the sodium salt showed thermal stability up to 245°C, whereas the complexes started their degradation processes at temperatures starting from 90°C. While G* for the cleavage of the acetate moiety in the sodium salt was 63.76 kJmol-1, it was 82.06 and 140.57 kJmol-1 in the cases of Ca2+ and Fe3+, respectively. However, their complete fusion took place at 187.65, 150.34 and 98.77°C, respectively, displaying a reversed trend which is probably indicative of some catalytic part on the binding metals. Using the Gaussian 98 W package of programs, ab initio molecular orbital treatments were applied to diclofenac and its Ca2+ and Fe3+ metal complexes to study their electronic structure at the atomic level. The thermochemistry of diclofenac sodium was followed through the TG fragmentation peak temperatures using the density functional theory calculations at the 6-31G(d) basis set level. The FT-IR data were in good agreement with the theoretically calculated values. Single point calculations at the B3LYP/ 6-311G(d) level of theory, were used to compare the geometric features, energies and dipole moments of these compounds to detect the effect of the binding metal ions on the thermal dissociation of their diclofenac complexes.

Reactions of wüstite and hematite with different chlorinating agents

Chlorination of wüstite (Fe(1-x)O) and hematite (Fe2O3) with Cl2 + CO and Cl2 + N2 was studied by thermogravimetric analysis using non-isothermal conditions up to about 1000°C. The wüstite

Kinetics of the chlorination of hematite

The chlorination of hematite was studied by thermogravimetry between 600 and 950°C. The role of convective mass transfer into the boundary layer surrounding the sample, gaseous diffusion into the sample pores, and the effect of the reaction temperature on the reaction rate were analyzed in order to determine the rate-controlling regime. In the 750-950°C temperature range, the reaction rate was significantly affected by diffusion of Cl2 through the gas film surrounding the sample. In the 600-750°C range a mixed rate-controlling regime with an apparent activation energy of 200 kJ mol-1 was observed. The diffusion of iron chlorides and oxygen out of the sample pores is proposed as the slowest diffusion step.

Reaction of carotenoids and ferric chloride: Equilibria, isomerization, and products

In the oxidation of carotenoids, ethyl all-trans-8a?2-apo-?2-caroten-8a?2-oate and all-fraws-?2-carotene, with ferric chloride, several equilibria occur between Fe3+, Fe2+, Cl-, the neutral carotenoid, and its radical cation and dication. The radical cation and dication were found to abstract an electron from Fe2+. Isomerization of carotenoids occurs during the oxidation. In the presence of air, a stable product is formed in high yield during the oxidation. 1H NMR, LC-MS, and optical studies show that this product is the 5,8-peroxide of the starting material. A mechanism for the formation of this compound is proposed.

Kinetics of hematite chlorination with Cl2 and Cl2 + O2: Part I. Chlorination with Cl2

Preliminary tests of the chlorination of two iron oxides (wüstite and hematite) in various chlorinating gas mixtures were performed by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) under non-isothermal conditions. Wüstite started to react with chlorine from about 200 °C generating ferric chloride and hematite as the final reaction products. The presence of a reducing and oxidizing agent in the chlorinating gas mixtures influenced the chlorination reactions of both iron oxides, during non-isothermal treatment, only at temperatures higher than 500 °C. The chlorination kinetics of hematite with Cl2 have been studied in details between 600 and 1025 °C under isothermal chlorination. The values of the apparent activation energy (Ea) were about 180 and 75 kJ/mol in the temperature ranges of 600-875 and 875-1025 °C, respectively. The apparent reaction order with respect to Cl2 was found to be 0.67 at 750 °C. Mathematical model fitting of the kinetics data was carried out to determine the most probable reaction mechanisms.

Effect of SO2 on chlorination of Bi2O3 + Fe2O3 mixtures

The reaction of Bi2O3 + Fe2O3 mixtures with chlorine and SO2 at 250-700°C is studied. At 300-500°C, the degree of bismuth chloride sublimation from the oxide mixture increases in the presence of SOsu

Oxidation of Fe(III) to Fe(VI) by the Fe(CN) 63- ion in strong solution of alkalis

Ferricyanide ions oxidize Fe(III) up to Fe(VI) in 7-11 M KOH solutions and 10-16 M NaOH solutions. The completeness of the oxidation increases with increasing alkali and ferricyanide concentrations. The presence of KNO 2, KAc, and K2

An overview study of chlorination reactions applied to the primary extraction and recycling of metals and to the synthesis of new reagents

Energy intensive classical metallurgical processes, the depletion of high-grade ores and primary sources push the scientific and technical communities to treat lean and complex ores as well as secondary metal resources for the recovery of valuable metals.