Talk:Ruthenium tetrachloride

misleading page, needs major revision

This article gives the impression that ruthenium tetrachloride is a stable, isolable compound. It is not. This article needs to be revised to convey the true nature of RuCl₄.

Ruthenium tetrachloride has been observed in the gas phase when RuCl₃(s) was treated with Cl₂ gas (1 atm) (Journal of Physical Chemistry (1961), 65, 517-21 ). It has been isolated in the solid state by collecting the gaseous vapor on a cold finger, and begins to decompose above -30 °C (Zhurnal Neorganicheskoi Khimii (1963), 8(6), 1543-5). The reactions provided in this article are not supported with citations. They are most probably incorrect and should be removed.

The only scientific citation provide is the 1901 article, which is over 100 years old. This kind of literature is usually only suitable to be considered in historical contexts, not as primary sources of scientific data unless there is nothing more modern, which is not the case here. Importantly, the 1901 paper indicates numerous times that RuCl₄ was not prepared. RoBunsen (talk) 16:35, 7 June 2023 (UTC)

I edited the page to reflect the above. RoBunsen (talk) 19:23, 17 August 2023 (UTC)