Hey guys! If molybdenum powder is set afire in air, it will burn grudgingly.
However, if we blow some pure oxygen on it,
the burning will intensify distinctly,
and you can see a white smoke cloud, that represents Molybdenum trioxide.
It is quite another matter, if we set Molybdenum powder on fire in the chlorine atmosphere.
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So, Here’s the reaction with molybdenum powder and liquid chlorine once again.
In this reaction you can see brown, bromine-like vapors
These vapors are molybdenum pentachloride.
Take a look at this ampoule! It contains 100 grams of dry molybdenum pentachloride.
In the solid state, it is a dimer, in which two distorted octahedron share an edge, forming two chloride bridges.
Take a look at the tip of this ampoule.
Its color stands out from that of the ampoule.
Why, you think, this happened? Let me know in the comments.
Well, let’s open this ampoule
Look at how quickly molybdenum pentachloride oxidizes in air
Molybdenum pentachloride is essentialy black,
melting at about 200°C to a dark liquid, but the vapour is reddish brown
You just saw the exact same vapors in the Molybdenum powder reaction with chlorine
Molybdenum pentachloride oxidizes in air quickly, forming yellow dichlorodioxomolybdenum.
In order to showcase it, I’ll repeat the previous experiment, only this time I’ll rotate test-tube 90°
so that forming dichlorodioxomolybdenum collects on its walls.
It’s a very captivating process
Now I’ll pour molybdenum pentachloride on the table and leave it for 10 minutes,
and you watch, what will be happening to it during that time
The forming of green coloring is contingent on the forming of Molybdenum oxytetrachloride.
It deliquesces into blue liquid in humid atmosphere,
and it is the reason you see all these blue spots in this video.
Molybdenum pentachloride reacts with water very readily of course,
to give Molybdenum oxytrichloride, molybdenum oxytetrachloride and other oxydichloride species,
and apparently it also forms hydrogen chloride, that can be easily identified with a pH Indicator strip
Molybdenum pentachloride is hydrolyzed with water, forming molybdenum oxytrichloride.
The brown watery solution is slowly getting darker in air
In hydrochloric acid Molybdenum pentachloride dissolves with a great heat emission
and the formation of a rich-green-color solution
This solution changes its coloring from green to reddish brown,
depending on the concentration of hydrochloric acid
Take a look at these five test tubes
Number one contains concentrated hydrochloric acid.
The concentration of hydrochloric acid goes down in the tubes number two, three and four.
Number five contains distilled water.
Now I’ll be adding the same amount of molybdenum pentachloride in each of these tubes,
and you watch, how the coloring changes due to the differences in concentration of hydrochloric acid
Molybdenum pentachloride reacts with concentrated nitric acid, forming nitrogen monoxide,
that can react with atmospheric oxygen and, thus, form nitrogen dioxide,
the color of which you all know very well
In this reaction I’ll show you, how such a strong reducing agent, as tin (II) chloride,
reduces molybdenum pentachloride to dark-red molybdenum trichloride.
To wrap it up, I’ll show you a hypergolic solid-solid reaction.
A hypergolic reaction occurs, when the components spontaneously ignite
as they come into contact with each other
And who would doubt, that I have other anhydrous chlorides?
So, let me know in the comments, which one you’d like to see in a video the most.
Thanks for watching, guys! Hope, you really enjoed. Seeya in the next video!