Antimony tribromide has two crystalline forms, both having orthorhombic symmetries. When a warm carbon disulfide solution of SbBr3 is rapidly cooled, it crystallizes into the needle-like α-SbBr3, which then slowly converts to the more stable β form.[2]
Antimony tribromide hydrolyzes in water to form hydrobromic acid and antimony trioxide:
2 SbBr3 + 3 H2O → Sb2O3 + 6 HBr
Uses
It can be added to polymers such as polyethylene as a fire retardant.[3] It is also used in the production of other antimony compounds, in chemical analysis, as a mordant, and in dyeing.[4]
^Okuda, Tsutomu; Terao, Hiromitsu; Ege, Osamu; Negita, Hisao (1970). "Structural Studies of Antimony Tribromide and Its Molecular Complex with Benzene by Means of the 81Br Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance". Bulletin of the Chemical Society of Japan. 43 (8): 2398. doi:10.1246/bcsj.43.2398.
^Yang, Y. P.; D. G. Brewer; J. E. S. Venart (1991). "A study of the synergistic action of antimony oxide in fire-retardant polyethylene". Fire and Materials. 15: 37–42. doi:10.1002/fam.810150107.