Lutetium(III) nitrate

Lutetium(III) nitrate is an inorganic compound, a salt of lutetium and nitric acid with the chemical formula Lu(NO₃)₃. The compound forms colorless crystals, dissolves in water, and also forms crystalline hydrates. The compound is poisonous.

Synthesis

Dissolving lutetium oxide in nitric acid:

$𝖫{𝗎}_{\mathrm{𝟤}}{𝖮}_{\mathrm{𝟥}}\mathsf{+}\mathrm{𝟨}𝖧𝖭{𝖮}_{\mathrm{𝟥}}\stackrel{90^{o}C}{\to }\mathrm{𝟤}𝖫𝗎\mathsf{(}𝖭{𝖮}_{\mathrm{𝟥}}{\mathsf{)}}_{\mathrm{𝟥}}\mathsf{+}\mathrm{𝟥}{𝖧}_{\mathrm{𝟤}}𝖮$

To obtain anhydrous nitrate, the powdered metal is added to nitrogen dioxide dissolved in ethyl acetate:

$𝖫𝗎\mathsf{+}\mathrm{𝟥}{𝖭}_{\mathrm{𝟤}}{𝖮}_{\mathrm{𝟦}}\stackrel{77^{o}C}{\to }𝖫𝗎\mathsf{(}𝖭{𝖮}_{\mathrm{𝟥}}{\mathsf{)}}_{\mathrm{𝟥}}\mathsf{+}\mathrm{𝟥}𝖭𝖮$

Physical properties

Lutetium(III) nitrate forms colorless hygroscopic crystals.

Soluble in water and ethanol.

Forms crystalline hydrates of the composition Lu(NO₃)₃•nH₂O, where n = 3, 4, 5, 6.

Chemical properties

The hydrated lutetium nitrate thermally decomposes to form LuONO₃ and decomposes to lutetium oxide upon further heating.

The compound forms ammonium hexafluoroluthenate with ammonium fluoride:

$𝖫𝗎\mathsf{(}𝖭{𝖮}_{\mathrm{𝟥}}{\mathsf{)}}_{\mathrm{𝟥}}\mathsf{+}\mathrm{𝟨}𝖭{𝖧}_{\mathrm{𝟦}}𝖥\stackrel{}{\to }\mathsf{(}𝖭{𝖧}_{\mathrm{𝟦}}{\mathsf{)}}_{\mathrm{𝟥}}\mathsf{[}𝖫𝗎{𝖥}_{\mathrm{𝟨}}\mathsf{]}\mathsf{\downarrow }\mathsf{+}\mathrm{𝟥}𝖭{𝖧}_{\mathrm{𝟦}}𝖭{𝖮}_{\mathrm{𝟥}}$

Applications

Lutetium(III) nitrate is used to obtain metallic lutetium and also as a chemical reagent.

It is used as a component of materials for the production of laser crystals.