WebElements Periodic Table of the Elements | Lithium

Lithium compounds: lithium chloride

The lithium in lithium chloride formally is in the oxidation state 1.

Lithium chloride

Formula as often written: LiCl
Hill system formula: Cl₁Li₁
CAS registry number: [7447-41-8]
Formula weight: 42.394
Class: chloride

Synonyms

lithium chloride
lithium(I) chloride

Physical properties

Colour: white
Appearance: crystalline solid
Melting point: 610°C
Boiling point: 1360°C; 1383°C
Density: 2070 kg m^-3

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Element analysis

Element percentages for the elements in lithium chloride
Element	%
Cl	83.63
Li	16.37

Synthesis

One way to make lithium chloride is to react the hydroxide with hydrochloric acid. The resulting salt can then be purified by recrystallization. Another, slightly alarmingly, is by the thermal decompostion of lithium(I) perchlorate, LiClO₄.

LiOH(aq) + HCl(aq) → LiCl(aq) + H₂O(l)

LiClO₄(s) + heat → LiCl(s) + 2O₂(g)

While not a normal route of preparation because of the expense, lithium metal reacts vigorously with all the halogens to form sodium halides. So, it burns with chlorine, Cl₂, to form lithium(I) chloride, LiCl.

2Li(s) + Cl₂(g) → 2LiCl(s)

Solid state structure

Geometry of lithium: 6 coordinate: octahedral
Prototypical structure: NaCl (rock salt)

Crystal structure of lithium chloride

Isotope pattern

What follows is the calculated isotope pattern for the LiCl unit with the most intense ion set to 100%.

Formula: Li₁Cl₁

mass  %
41   8.1 ____
42 100.0 __________________________________________________
43   2.6 _
44  32.0 ________________

References

The data on these compounds pages are assembled and adapted from the primary literature and several other sources including the following.

R.T. Sanderson in Chemical Periodicity, Reinhold, New York, USA, 1960.
N.N. Greenwood and A. Earnshaw in Chemistry of the Elements, 2nd edition, Butterworth, UK, 1997.
F.A. Cotton, G. Wilkinson, C.A. Murillo, and M. Bochmann, in Advanced Inorganic Chemistry, John Wiley & Sons, 1999.
A.F. Trotman-Dickenson, (ed.) in Comprehensive Inorganic Chemistry, Pergamon, Oxford, UK, 1973.
R.W.G. Wyckoff, in Crystal Structures, volume 1, Interscience, John Wiley & Sons, 1963.
A.R.West in Basic solid state chemistry Chemistry, John Wiley & Sons, 1999.
A.F. Wells in Structural inorganic chemistry, 4th edition, Oxford, UK, 1975.
J.D.H. Donnay, (ed.) in Crystal data determinative tables, ACA monograph number 5, American Crystallographic Association, USA, 1963.
D.R. Lide, (ed.) in Chemical Rubber Company handbook of chemistry and physics, CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, USA, 77th edition, 1996.
J.W. Mellor in A comprehensive treatise on inorganic and theoretical chemistry, volumes 1-16, Longmans, London, UK, 1922-1937.
J.E. Macintyre (ed.) in Dictionary of inorganic compounds, volumes 1-3, Chapman & Hall, London, UK, 1992.