Structure and Properties
Anhydrous iron(III) chloride adopts the BiI3 structure, which features octahedral Fe(III) centres interconnected by two-coordinate chloride ligands. Iron(III) chloride hexahydrate consists of trans-+ cationic complexes and chloride anions, with the remaining two H2O molecules embedded within the monoclinic crystal structure.
Iron(III) chloride has a relatively low melting point and boils at around 315 °C. The vapour consists of the dimer Fe2Cl6 (c.f. aluminium chloride) which increasingly dissociates into the monomeric FeCl3 (D3h point group molecular symmetry) at higher temperature, in competition with its reversible decomposition to give iron(II) chloride and chlorine gas.
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