Substitution of conventional high-temperature syntheses of inorganic compounds by near-room-temperature syntheses in ionic liquids

The high-temperature syntheses of the low-valent halogenides P2I4, Te2Br, α-Te4I4, Te4(Al2Cl7)2, Te4(Bi6Cl20), Te8(Bi4Cl14),Bi8(AlCl4)2, Bi6Cl7,and Bi6Br7, as well as of WSCl4 andWOCl4 have been replaced by resource-efficient low-temperature syntheses in room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs). The simple one-pot syntheses generally do not require elaborate equipment such as twozone furnaces or evacuated silica ampoules. Compared to the published conventional approaches, reduction of reaction time (up to 80%) and temperature (up to 500 K) and, simultaneously, an increase in yield were achieved. In the majority of cases, the solid products were phase-pure. X-Ray diffraction on single crystals (redetermination of 11 crystal structures) has demonstrated that the quality of the crystals from RTILs is comparable to that of products obtained by chemical transport reactions. © 2013 Verlag der Zeitschrift für Naturforschung, Tübingen.