Low-temperature synthesis of uranium tetraboride by solid-state metathesis reactions

Anthony J Lupinetti; Julie L Fife; Eduardo Garcia; Peter K Dorhout; Kent D Abney

doi:10.1021/ic015607a

Low-temperature synthesis of uranium tetraboride by solid-state metathesis reactions

Inorg Chem. 2002 May 6;41(9):2316-8. doi: 10.1021/ic015607a.

Authors

Anthony J Lupinetti¹, Julie L Fife, Eduardo Garcia, Peter K Dorhout, Kent D Abney

Affiliation

¹ Nuclear Materials Technology Division (NMT-2), Mail Stop E511, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA. lupi@lanl.gov

PMID: 11978092
DOI: 10.1021/ic015607a

Abstract

A novel synthesis of uranium tetraboride (UB(4)) by solid-state metathesis reaction is demonstrated. This approach significantly lowers the temperature required to synthesize this material to < or = 850 degrees C. When UCl(4) is reacted with 2 equiv of MgB(2) at 850 degrees C, crystalline UB(4) is formed. Powder X-ray diffraction and ICP-AES data support the reduction of UCl(4) to UCl(3) as the initial step in the reaction. The UB(4) product is purified by washing with water.