Properties and Reactions
Tungsten (VI) chloride is a blue-black crystalline solid at room temperature. At lower temperatures, it 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. It is readily hydrolyzed in moist air, giving the orange oxychlorides WOCl4 & WO2Cl2, and subsequently, tungsten trioxide. WCl6 is soluble in carbon disulfide, carbon tetrachloride and phosphorus oxychloride.
Methylation with trimethylaluminium affords hexamethyl tungsten:
- WCl6 +3 Al2(CH3)6 → W(CH3)6 + 3 Al2(CH3)4Cl2
Treatment with butyl lithium affords a reagent that is useful for deoxygenation of epoxides.
The chloride ligands in WCl6 can be replaced by many anionic ligands including: Br−, NCS−, and RO− (R = alkyl, aryl).
Read more about this topic: Tungsten Hexachloride
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