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Preparation of Rhenium Tetrachloride

Abstract

PREVIOUS attempts to prepare rhenium tetrachloride have failed1. Geilmann, Wrigge and Biltz2 attempted to prepare the compound by heating silver hexachlororhenate (IV), but they obtained a mixture of the trichloride and pentachloride. Reduction of perrhenic acid with hydriodic and hydrobromic acids gave rhenium tetraiodide3 and tetrabromide4 respectively, but the method was unsuccessful for the tetrachloride since the intermediate hexachlororhenic acid could not be decomposed5. More recently it has been found that rhenium hexachloride does not decompose thermally in nitrogen to give the tetrachloride6 in sharp contrast to technetium hexachloride which readily gives technetium tetrachloride5. We now report the preparation of rhenium tetrachloride by the action of thionyl chloride on hydrated rhenium dioxide.

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References

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BROWN, D., COLTON, R. Preparation of Rhenium Tetrachloride. Nature 198, 1300–1301 (1963). https://doi.org/10.1038/1981300a0

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