X-ray and neutron diffraction study of liquid antimony trichloride at 80°C

X-ray and neutron diffraction experiments with liquid SbCl3 at 80°C are described and discussed. The liquid consists of discrete molecules with an Sb–Cl distance of 2.35 Å and a Cl–Sb–Cl angle of 96°. The diffraction data are analyzed to yield structure functions for intermolecular atom pair interactions. The radial distribution functions obtained from these curves yield directly some valuable insight into the nature of the strong spatial correlations present in liquid SbCl3.