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I have bought 250 g of old antimony trichloride bottle (very cheap), it was never opened because it is sealed from manufacturer. But it was probably not stored well, or seal is not good, because there is a liquid above crystals. I have read at Wikipedia that with air moisture it can react and produce antimony oxychloride and hydrochloric acid (hydrolysis):

$$\ce{SbCl3 + H2O → SbOCl + 2 HCl}$$

Is there any method for recovery of $\ce{SbCl3}$?

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    $\begingroup$ "Antimony trichloride is best purified from old or partially hydrolyzed reagent by subliming it under vacuum and condense it on a cold finger. " from sciencemadness.org/smwiki/index.php/Antimony(III)_chloride $\endgroup$
    – Waylander
    Sep 21 at 11:15
  • $\begingroup$ Thank you, this will separate SbCl3 from other stuff in mixture, but is it possible to convert also SbOCl or other products of hydrolysis back to SbCl3 somehow? Or is it worth to extract elementary antimony at least? $\endgroup$
    – Tom
    Sep 21 at 15:23
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    $\begingroup$ 99.8% pure Sb metal is available for ~US$75/kg, amazon.com/Antimony-Pound-Metal-MS-MetalShipper/dp/B01F5SBAEG/… . Though it might be an educational experiment to extract it, economically, not feasible. Consider in the 250 g, about half is Sb, and consider cost of reagents. $\endgroup$
    – DrMoishe Pippik
    Sep 21 at 17:18
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    $\begingroup$ @Tom Antimony trichloride can be prepared from Antimony oxide and hydrochloric acid (prep here prepchem.com/synthesis-of-antimony-trichloride). I think this should work for the oxychloride as it must be an intermediate in the reaction. $\endgroup$
    – Waylander
    Sep 21 at 17:38

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