Lithium chloride

File:FlammenfärbungLi.png

The salt forms crystalline hydrates, unlike the other alkali metal chlorides.Holleman, A. F.; Wiberg, E. Inorganic Chemistry Academic Press: San Diego, 2001. {{ISBN|0-12-352651-5}}. Mono-, tri-, and pentahydrates are known.{{cite journal |author1=Hönnerscheid Andreas |author2=Nuss Jürgen |author3=Mühle Claus |author4=Jansen Martin | year = 2003 | title = Die Kristallstrukturen der Monohydrate von Lithiumchlorid und Lithiumbromid | journal = Zeitschrift für anorganische und allgemeine Chemie | volume = 629 | issue = 2| pages = 312–316 | doi = 10.1002/zaac.200390049 }} The anhydrous salt can be regenerated by heating the hydrates. LiCl also absorbs up to four equivalents of ammonia/mol. As with any other ionic chloride, solutions of lithium chloride can serve as a source of chloride ion, e.g., forming a precipitate upon treatment with silver nitrate:

: LiCl + AgNO₃ → AgCl + LiNO₃

Lithium chloride is produced by treatment of lithium carbonate with hydrochloric acid.{{Ullmann |doi=10.1002/14356007.a15_393|title=Lithium and Lithium Compounds|first1=Ulrich |last1=Wietelmann|first2=Richard J.|last2=Bauer|year=2005}} Anhydrous LiCl is prepared from the hydrate by heating in a stream of hydrogen chloride.

Lithium chloride is mainly used for the production of lithium metal by electrolysis of a LiCl/KCl melt at {{convert|450|C|F}}. LiCl is also used as a brazing flux for aluminium in automobile parts. It is used as a desiccant for drying air streams. In more specialized applications, lithium chloride finds some use in organic synthesis, e.g., as an additive in the Stille reaction. Also, in biochemical applications, it can be used to precipitate RNA from cellular extracts.{{cite journal

| doi= 10.1089/dna.1983.2.329

| author1= Cathala, G. | author2=Savouret, J. | author3=Mendez, B. | author4=West, B. L. | author5=Karin, M. | author6=Martial, J. A. | author7=Baxter, J. D.

| title = A Method for Isolation of Intact, Translationally Active Ribonucleic Acid

| journal = DNA

| year = 1983

| volume = 2

| issue = 4

| pages = 329–335

| pmid = 6198133 }}

Lithium chloride is also used as a flame colorant to produce dark red flames.

Lithium chloride is used as a relative humidity standard in the calibration of hygrometers. At {{convert|25|C|F}} a saturated solution (45.8%) of the salt will yield an equilibrium relative humidity of 11.30%. Additionally, lithium chloride can be used as a hygrometer. This deliquescent salt forms a self-solution when exposed to air. The equilibrium LiCl concentration in the resulting solution is directly related to the relative humidity of the air. The percent relative humidity at {{convert|25|C|F}} can be estimated, with minimal error in the range {{convert|10-30|C}}, from the following first-order equation: RH=107.93-2.11C, where C is solution LiCl concentration, percent by mass.

Molten LiCl is used for the preparation of carbon nanotubes,{{cite journal | doi=10.1016/j.carbon.2014.05.089 | volume=77 | title=Towards large scale preparation of carbon nanostructures in molten LiCl | journal=Carbon | pages=835–845| year=2014 | last1=Kamali | first1=Ali Reza | last2=Fray | first2=Derek J. | doi-access=free }} graphene{{cite journal | journal = Nanoscale| year= 2015|volume = 7| issue= 26|pages= 11310–11320 | doi = 10.1039/c5nr01132a| pmid= 26053881| title=Large-scale preparation of graphene by high temperature insertion of hydrogen into graphite|url= https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstream/1810/248812/1/Kamali%20%26%20Fray%202015%20Nanoscale.pdf| last1= Kamali| first1= Ali Reza| last2= Fray| first2= Derek J.| doi-access= free}} and lithium niobate.{{cite journal | doi = 10.1016/j.ceramint.2013.07.085 | volume=40 | title=Preparation of lithium niobate particles via reactive molten salt synthesis method | journal=Ceramics International | pages=1835–1841| year=2014 | last1=Kamali | first1=Ali Reza | last2=Fray | first2=Derek J. }}

Lithium chloride has been shown to have strong acaricidal properties, being effective against Varroa destructor in populations of honey bees.{{Cite journal|last1=Ziegelmann|first1=Bettina|last2=Abele|first2=Elisabeth|date=January 12, 2018|title=Lithium chloride effectively kills the honey bee parasite Varroa destructor by a systemic mode of action|journal=Scientific Reports|volume=8|issue=1|doi=10.1038/s41598-017-19137-5|pmid=29330449|pmc=5766531|page=683 |bibcode=2018NatSR...8..683Z}}

Lithium chloride is used as an aversive agent in lab animals to study conditioned place preference and aversion.

Lithium salts affect the central nervous system in a variety of ways. While the citrate, carbonate, and orotate salts are currently used to treat bipolar disorder, other lithium salts including the chloride were used in the past. For a short time in the 1940s lithium chloride was manufactured as a salt substitute for people with hypertension, but this was prohibited after the toxic effects of the compound (tremors, fatigue, nausea) were recognized.{{cite journal

| author= Talbott J. H.

| title = Use of lithium salts as a substitute for sodium chloride

| journal = Arch Intern Med

| year = 1950

| volume = 85

| issue = 1

| pages = 1–10

| pmid = 15398859

| doi=10.1001/archinte.1950.00230070023001}}{{cite journal

| author1= L. J. Stone | author2=M. luton | author3=J. Gilroy

| title = Lithium Chloride as a Substitute for Sodium Chloride in the Diet

| journal = Journal of the American Medical Association

| year = 1949

| volume = 139

| issue = 11

| pages = 688–692

| doi =10.1001/jama.1949.02900280004002

| pmid= 18128981 }}{{cite news | magazine = Time | title = Case of trie Substitute Salt | date = 28 February 1949 | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,799873,00.html| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070302040542/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,799873,00.html| url-status = dead| archive-date = March 2, 2007}} It was, however, noted by J. H. Talbott that many symptoms attributed to lithium chloride toxicity may have also been attributable to sodium chloride deficiency, to the diuretics often administered to patients who were given lithium chloride, or to the patients' underlying conditions.

• Lithium chloride (data page)
• Solubility table

{{reflist}}

• Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 71st edition, CRC Press, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1990.
• N. N. Greenwood, A. Earnshaw, Chemistry of the Elements, 2nd ed., Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, UK, 1997.
• R. Vatassery, titration analysis of LiCl, sat'd in Ethanol by AgNO₃ to precipitate AgCl(s). EP of this titration gives %Cl by mass.
• H. Nechamkin, The Chemistry of the Elements, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1968.

• [https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/v52-020 Radiochemical measurements of activity coefficients, from Betts & MacKenzie, Can. J. Chem.]

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Category:Chlorides

Category:Alkali metal chlorides

Category:Lithium salts

Category:Metal halides

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Category:Desiccants

Category:Rock salt crystal structure