Hydrolysis of trihalides

The general chemistry of Ac3 in both solid compounds and solution, where known, is very similar to that of lanthanum, as would be expected from the similarity in position in the Periodic Table and in radii (Ac3, 1.10 La3, 1.06 A) together with the noble gas structure of the ion. Thus actinium is a true member of Group 3, the only difference from lanthanum being in the expected increased basicity. The increased basic character is shown by the stronger absorption of the hydrated ion on cation-exchange resins, the poorer extraction of the ion from concentrated nitric acid solutions by tributyl phosphate, and the hydrolysis of the trihalides with water vapor at 1000°C to the oxohalides AcOX the lanthanum halides are hydrolyzed to oxide by water vapor at 1000°C. 

Arsenic trioxide may be made by burning arsenic in air or by the hydrolysis of an arsenic trihalide. Commercially, it is obtained by roasting arsenopyrite [1303-18-0], FeAsS. It dissolves in water to a slight extent (1.7 g/100 g water at 25°C) to form a weaHy acidic solution which probably contains the species H3As03, orthoarsenous acid [36465-76-6]. The oxide is amphoteric and hence soluble in acids and bases. It is frequendy used as a primary analytical standard in oxidimetry because it is readily attainable in a high state of purity and is quantitatively oxidized by many reagents commonly used in volumetric analysis, eg, dichromate, nitric acid, hypochlorite, and iron(III). 

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