Vanadium Oxymonochloride, VOCl

Vanadium Oxymonochloride, VOCl, can be obtained by heating vanadium trichloride in an atmosphere of carbon dioxide at about 700° C. for several hours:

3VCl₃ + 2CO₂ = VCl₄ + 2VOCl + 2CO.

It can also be prepared by the reduction of vanadium oxytrichloride, VOCl₃, in hydrogen at a red heat. It is a flaky, brown, crystalline substance; density at 16° C., 2.824; soluble with difficulty in water but readily soluble in nitric acid.