Theoretical and Experimental Investigations of Vanadium (III) Oxychloride

Abstract

An attempt has been made to produce vanadium (III) oxychloride, (OVCl) by an on-line process for the first time using vanadium oxytrichloride, VOCl3 as a precursor passed over heated silver wool at about 930°C. The vapour products have been characterised by their infrared spectra; values for ν3 of 1010 cm−1 (O=V stretch) and for ν2 of 420 cm−1 (V-Cl stretch) were obtained. Ab initio self-consistent-field molecular orbital calculations were performed to determine the geometry, total energy and the vibrational frequencies of OVCl.