Neodymium chloride, anhydrous

Neodymium amalgam, 15 Neodymium chloride, anhydrous, 32 Nitramide, 68, 72 Nitrocarbamate, potassium, 70 Nitrocarbamates, 68 Nitrogen, pure, 79 Nitrogen trichloride, 65 analysis of, 67 Nitrosyl chloride, 55 analysis of, 57 Nitrosylsulfuric acid, 55 Nitrourethane, 69 ammonium, 69... 

Neodymium amalgam, 1 15 Neodymium chloride, anhydrous, 1 32 6 154n. 

Anhydrous neodymium chloride unites with ammonia gas at low temperature, or if kept in a sealed tube with liquid ammonia, yielding a voluminous rose-coloured powder of composition [Nd(NH3)12]Cl3. 

Neodymium oxide was first isolated from a mixture of oxides called didymia. The elemeut ueodymium is the secoud most abuudaut lanthanide elemeut in the igneous rocks of Earth s crust. Hydrated neodymium(III) salts are reddish and anhydrous neodymium compounds are blue. The compounds neodymium(III) chloride, bromide, iodide, nitrate, perchlorate, and acetate are very soluble neodymium sulfate is somewhat soluble the fluoride, hydroxide, oxide, carbonate, oxalate, and phosphate compoimds are insoluble. 

In 1885 C. A. von Welsbach isolated two elements as oxides, praseodymium (the word meaning green twin ) and neodymium (meaning new twin ), from a mixture of lanthanide oxides called didymia. The oxides can be transformed to fluorides by reaction with HF at 700°C (1,292°F), or with NH4HF2 at 300°C (572°F). The hydrated fluorides are then dehydrated in vacuo in a current of HF gas. The metals praseodymium and neodymium are obtained via metallothermic reduction with calcium at approximately 1,450°C (2,642°F), or via electrolytic reduction of the melts. The metals can also be obtained from anhydrous chlorides, obtained via reaction of the oxides with ammonium chloride at 350°C (662 °F), which are then reduced with lithium-magnesium at approximately 100°C (212°F). 

The preparation of amalgams of lanthanum, neodymium, and cerium by electrolysis of the anhydrous chlorides in alcoholic solution has already been described. The electrolysis of a rare earth chloride in water solution proves unsatisfactory because of the production of a precipitate of hydrous oxide at the cathode and the liberation of chlorine at the anode. 

Tetrakis(hexafluoroisopropoxides) of titanium, zirconium, and hafnium have been prepared by the reaction of sodium hexafluoroisopropoxide in an excess of hexafluoroisopropyl alcohol with the anhydrous metal chloride, and the spectroscopic properties are reported. The authors note that, in their experience, application to the Group IV transition metals of the previously published method for metal hexafluoroisopropoxide synthesis gives poor yields of material containing metal, fluorinated alkoxides, and co-ordinated ammonia. Dehydration of the hydrated metal chloride with methyl orthoformate and addition of hexafluoroisopropyl alcohol, followed by passage of dry ammonia through the solution, gives satisfactory yields for yttrium, lanthanum, neodymium, and erbium. 

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