Wizzard1
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Back from the dead - Working with NdCl3/FeCl3
Howdy, folks of Sciencemadness!!
I'm back for the time being. Still working with chemistry, but my other hobbies ate away at my free time for a while.
I've been stocking up on neo magnets, and running through some purification steps now for another lovely batch of Neodymium Sulfate.
I had a project a while back that has been on deep freeze since inception - Macro-scale growth of Neodymium Chloride crystals.
I had some small success initially when growing from solution, but purification by washing with cold acetone proved very poor - It dissolved all my
lovely results, washing the Ferric Chloride from the outside and taking too much Nd Chloride with it. The wash was kept.
I've been working recently with it, and decided to add toluene dropwise - The intended solution would slowly become insoluble as the acetone is
replaced (by dropwise addition of toluene and it's own slow, room-temp evaporation before the toluene does). This process has yielded small results.
Anybody have any experience with Nd Chloride? I've determined it's quite hydroscopic, and working with it's impurity (the iron) makes it very messy,
and getting a clean crystal for display is hard.
I hope to add some pictures soon.
[Edited on 18-2-2019 by Wizzard1]
[Edited on 18-2-2019 by Wizzard1]
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j_sum1
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Wow!
First fish and now WIZ.
I swa Ramium the other day too.
Welcome back.
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unionised
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Welcome back.
Do you have ether to play with?
If so, the "old school" method for removing Fe(III) might help
Dissolve the mixed chlorides in about 20% w/v HCl Aq.
Extract repeatedly with ether.
The old text books say that the stuff that's extracted is an ether complex of H[FeCl4].
I can't vouch for that, but it does strip iron out of things.
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Wizzard1
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@Unionised - That's how the whole mess was dissolved, but the iron still stains and remains in solution.
Also of note - Can anybody tell me about the beautiful blue solution that forms when 95% ethanol is mixed with Nd Chloride and Ferric Chloride?
Pictures attached.
Gallery: https://imgur.com/a/2KqK6ql
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unionised
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I guess you didn't extract it fully or the solution didn't have enough HCl in it.
No idea what the blue is.
Does it stay blue if you either
(1) add water or
(2) evaporate the alcohol
?
Come to think of it, how sure are you that you didn't have a samarium/ cobalt magnet?
Cobalt does the blue/ pink thing depending on solvent.
[Edited on 19-2-19 by unionised]
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