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Evaporating cold aqueous chromium(III) chloride produces violet crystals. However when hot aqueous chromium(III) chloride crystallizes, green crystals result.
Could someone please explain the chemistry behind this... I mean both the crystals contain $Cr^{3+}$, so the difference in colour cannot be due to two different oxidation states. Also, they contain the same ligand $Cl^-$. Can someone please tell me where I am going wrong?
Well, actually when we evaporate aqueous chromium(III) chloride, the hydrate of the crystal will be gone, so we get anhydrous chromium(III) chloride ($\ce {CrCl3}$). This type of anhydrous produce violet color.
But if we crystallizes aqueous of the chromium(III) chloride, the hydrate won't go, so we get hydrous chromium(III) chloride (usually hexahydrate, like $\ce {CrCl3.6H2O}$). This crystal produce dark green color.
