Nature of the mixed hydrides between aluminum chloride and lithium aluminum hydride in anhydrous tetrahydrofuran

Abstract

The concentration dependence of the specific conductivity of aluminum chloride, chloroderivatives of aluminum hydride and lithium aluminum hydride in tetrahydrofuran were measured. Two types of the conductivity-concentration curve were obtained; the one is linear and the other is concave upward, which may be due to a disproportionate ionization process and due to a variation in the association number with a change in concentration, respectively. The reaction of aluminum chloride with lithium aluminum hydride is also investigated by the conductivity method. The formation of the species AlHCl 2 and AlH 2Cl and of ionized complex Li +AlHCl 3 − and Li +AlH 2Cl 2 − in tetrahydrofuran is proposed to account for the maxima in the conductivity curves. The formation of the complex in diethyl ether is also briefly discussed.