Cobalt chloride anhydrous p.a. - Analytical research grade

CoCl₂ 

Cobalt (II) chloride anhydrous, also known as Cobaltous Chloride, is a beautiful sky blue color. It is generally supplied in bead form and should be handled carefully as it is a suspected carcinogen. Arte Fo supplies cobalt (II) chloride anhydrous with 99,8% purity (metals basis) in several amounts.

Cobalt chloride is a common visual moisture indicator due to its distinct colour change when hydrated. The colour change is from a shade of blue when dry, to a pink when hydrated, although the shade of colour depends on the substrate and concentration. It is impregnated into a paper to make test strips for detecting moisture in solutions, or more slowly, in air/gas. Desiccants such as silica gel can incorporate cobalt chloride to indicate when it is "spent" (i.e. hydrated)

Applications

Cobalt(II) chloride is used in humidity indicator in weather instruments. In the anhydrous form, it finds use in electroplating of cobalt, in organic chemistry and is a precursor to cobaltocene, (bis(cyclopentadienyl)cobalt(II), which is a good reducing agent. It also serves as a Lewis acid. Cobalt chloride is an indicator for water in desiccants, owing to the reversible hydration/dehydration coupled with distinct color change. Cobalt chloride is useful for producing invisible ink as it turns blue when heated and becomes invisible once it gets cooled. Cobalt(II) chloride catalyzes cross-coupling of aryl halides or vinyl halides with aryl Grignard reagents in excellent yields.

Other uses

- Invisible ink: when suspended in solution, cobalt(II) chloride can be made to appear invisible on a surface; when that same surface is subsequently exposed to significant heat (such as from a handheld heat gun or lighter) the ink permanently/ irreversibly changes to blue.
- Cobalt chloride is an established chemical inducer of hypoxia-like responses such as erythropoiesis. Cobalt supplementation is not banned and therefore would not be detected by current anti-doping testing. Cobalt chloride is a banned substance under the Australian Thoroughbred Racing Board.
- Cobalt chloride is one method used to induce pulmonary arterial hypertension in animals for research and evaluation of treatment efficacy.

More about the Cobalt Chloride in Wikipedia.

Formula: CoCl₂

Molecular Weight: 129.839 g/mol
Form: blue crystalline solid
CAS Number: 7646-79-9
Density: 3.356 g/cm³
Synonyms: Cobalt muriate, Cobaltous dichloride, Cobaltous chloride anhydrous, cobalt(2+);dichloride, Kobaltdichlorid, Kobalt chlorid, Kobalt(II)-chlorid, Kobalt chlorid (German)