Barium chloride is an inorganic compound with the formulaBaCl2. It is one of the most common water-soluble salts of barium. Like most other water-soluble barium salts, it is a white powder, highly toxic, and imparts a yellow-green coloration to a flame. It is also hygroscopic, converting to the dihydrate BaCl2·2H2O, which are colourless crystals with a bitter salty taste. It has limited use in the laboratory and industry.[7][3]
Preparation
On an industrial scale, barium chloride is prepared via a two step process from barite (barium sulfate).[8] The first step requires high temperatures.
In place of HCl, chlorine can be used.[7] Barium chloride is extracted out from the mixture with water. From water solutions of barium chloride, its dihydrate (BaCl2·2H2O) can be crystallized as colorless crystals.[2]
BaCl2 crystallizes in two forms (polymorphs). At room temperature, the compound is stable in the orthorhombiccotunnite (PbCl2) structure, whereas the cubic fluorite structure (CaF2) is stable between 925 and 963 °C.[9] Both polymorphs accommodate the preference of the large Ba2+ ion for coordination numbers greater than six.[10] The coordination of Ba2+ is 8 in the fluorite structure[11] and 9 in the cotunnite structure.[12] When cotunnite-structure BaCl2 is subjected to pressures of 7–10 GPa, it transforms to a third structure, a monoclinic post-cotunnite phase. The coordination number of Ba2+ increases from 9 to 10.[13]
In aqueous solution BaCl2 behaves as a simple salt; in water it is a 1:2 electrolyte[clarification needed] and the solution exhibits a neutral pH. Its solutions react with sulfateion to produce a thick white solid precipitate of barium sulfate.
BaCl2 + Na2SO4 → 2 NaCl + BaSO4
This precipitation reaction is used in chlor-alkali plants to control the sulfate concentration in the feed brine for electrolysis.
BaCl2·2H2O is stable in the air at room temperature, but loses one water of crystallization above 55 °C (131 °F), becoming BaCl2·H2O, and becomes anhydrous above 121 °C (250 °F).[2]BaCl2·H2O may be formed by shaking the dihydrate with methanol.[3]
Although inexpensive, barium chloride finds limited applications in the laboratory and industry.
Its main laboratory use is as a reagent for the gravimetric determination of sulfates. The sulfate compound being analyzed is dissolved in water and hydrochloric acid is added. When barium chloride solution is added, the sulfate present precipitates as barium sulfate, which is then filtered through ashless filter paper. The paper is burned off in a muffle furnace, the resulting barium sulfate is weighed, and the purity of the sulfate compound is thus calculated.
In industry, barium chloride is mainly used in the purification of brine solution in caustic chlorine plants and also in the manufacture of heat treatment salts, case hardening of steel.[7] It is also used to make red pigments such as Lithol red and Red Lake C. Its toxicity limits its applicability.[citation needed]
Toxicity
Barium chloride, along with other water-soluble barium salts, is highly toxic.[14] It irritates eyes and skin, causing redness and pain. It damages kidneys. Fatal dose of barium chloride for a human has been reported to be about 0.8-0.9 g. Systemic effects of acute barium chloride toxicity include abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, cardiac arrhythmia, muscular paralysis, and death. The Ba2+ ions compete with the K+ ions, causing the muscle fibers to be electrically unexcitable, thus causing weakness and paralysis of the body.[3]Sodium sulfate and magnesium sulfate are potential antidotes because they form barium sulfate BaSO4, which is relatively non-toxic because of its insolubility in water.
Barium chloride is not classified as a human carcinogen.[3]
^Brackett, E. B.; Brackett, T. E.; Sass, R. L. (1963). "The Crystal Structures of Barium Chloride, Barium Bromide, and Barium Iodide". J. Phys. Chem.67 (10): 2132. doi:10.1021/j100804a038.
