Properties
Europium trichloride is a yellow solid which begins to decompose at or below its melting point to give at least some EuCl2. Being hygroscopic it rapidly absorbs water on exposure to moist air to form a white crystalline hexahydrate, EuCl3ยท6H2O. Simple rapid heating of the hydrate alone may cause small amounts of hydrolysis. Anhydrous EuCl3 can be made from the hydrate by heating with an excess of thionyl chloride for around 15 hours.
Europium(III) chloride is soluble in water. When anhydrous, it is expected to be also highly soluble in ethanol (by analogy with SmCl3). It is nine-coordinate (trigonal prismatic), and it crystallises with the UCl3 structure.
Read more about this topic: Europium(III) Chloride
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