Thermal behaviour of chromium (III) perchlorate hexahydrate

Thermal behaviour of intimate mixtures of chromium(III) oxide and lithium¹, potassium², rubidium³, cesium³ and thallium(I)⁴ perchlorates revealed that chromium(III) oxide not only catalyses the decomposition by lowering the decomposition temperatures of the pure metal perchlorates but also chemically interacts resulting in the formation of metal dichromate. The oxidation of chromium(III) into the hexavalent state is attributed to the abstraction of oxygen from the perchlorate moiety during the decomposition. In this context, it was thought interesting to study the thermal behaviour of chromium(III) perchlorate and to identify the decomposition products in order to find out whether chromium(III) is oxidized into chromium(VI) by the perchlorate group. Except for a report⁵ on the preparation of chromium(III) perchlorate with different molecules of water of hydration no work seems to have been carried out on the thermal decomposition of this compound. In the present study, the decomposition characteristics are followed by TG and DTA techniques and the decomposition products have been examined by chemical analysis, X-ray powder diffraction patterns and infrared spectral measurements.