Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Ordered "Aluminium Chloride" recieved the Hexahydrate

Bis_2-ethylhexyl_adipate - 24-8-2019 at 16:40

Made a recent online purchase for what I thought was AlCl3 and received the useless hexahydrate form instead.
Quote:

The hexahydrate consists of octahedral [Al(H2O)6]3+ centers and chloride counterions. Hydrogen bonds link the cation and anions.[9] The hydrated form of aluminium chloride has an octahedral molecular geometry, with the central aluminum ion surrounded by six water ligand molecules. This means that the hydrated form cannot act as a Lewis acid since it cannot accept electron pairs, and thus this cannot be used as a catalyst in Friedel-Crafts alkylation of aromatic compounds.


wikipedia:Aluminium_chloride#Hexahydrate

Because it was so cheap and seemed too good to be true anyway, I am not bothered with returning it.

I am considering decomposing it to Aluminum Hydroxide - I think this would be an interesting basis for some high temperature experiments (maybe zeolites?)

Has anyone else had a similar experience ordering reagents before?

karlos³ - 24-8-2019 at 18:11

From a serious supplier?
And he hasn't clearly stated it is the useless hexahydrate?
That sucks, a huge disappointment!

No, I have never had such a experience ever in many, many years.
But if, I would directly write the seller and complain that this wasn't what I wanted to buy, and that is what you should too.

Sulaiman - 24-8-2019 at 19:47

Quote: Originally posted by Bis_2-ethylhexyl_adipate  
Made a recent online purchase for what I thought was AlCl3 and received the useless hexahydrate form instead...
...Has anyone else had a similar experience ordering reagents before?


I have had similar experiences;
Copper Sulphate, Calcium Nitrate, Cobalt Chloride, .... and many others
All were hydrated.

Did you read carefully before ordering ? e.g. m.w.
Was it described as anhydrous ?

Caveat Emptor

DraconicAcid - 24-8-2019 at 22:07

If you order something that's not specified as "anhydrous", it's probably going to be the most stable hydrate. Online, half the sellers don't even know what a hydrate is- they're just reselling something they bought elsewhere.

draculic acid69 - 25-8-2019 at 00:48

Unless it was very clearly marked 'anhydrous' it probably won't be.the price difference is huge between the two as well.

PirateDocBrown - 25-8-2019 at 13:26

Who is the seller? We should know, as to be warned, in the future.

Panache - 2-9-2019 at 01:09

Ha! I ordered 20kg of the hydrate years ago and received 40x500g bottles of the anhydrous!! That shits annoying to dispose of, i think i ended up upending 500g jars at a time into a half filled 44gallon drumand bolting across the paddock, it was tedious.