page_title: Ytterbium
section_title: Halides
hierarchical_section_title: Ytterbium / Compounds / Halides
caption_attribution_description: English: Crystal structure of Lanthanoide oxides Type C. The unit cell contains 16 formulas R2W3 (R=red, W=white). Each red ion is surrounded by six white ions, and each white by four red. Deutsch: Kristallstruktur von Lanthanoxiden Typ C
context_page_description: Ytterbium is a chemical element with the symbol Yb and atomic number 70. It is the fourteenth and penultimate element in the lanthanide series, which is the basis of the relative stability of its +2 oxidation state. However, like the other lanthanides, its most common oxidation state is +3, as in its oxide, halides, and other compounds. In aqueous solution, like compounds of other late lanthanides, soluble ytterbium compounds form complexes with nine water molecules. Because of its closed-shell electron configuration, its density and melting and boiling points differ significantly from those of most other lanthanides.
  In 1878, the Swiss chemist Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac separated from the rare earth "erbia" another independent component, which he called "ytterbia", for Ytterby, the village in Sweden near where he found the new component of erbium. He suspected that ytterbia was a compound of a new element that he called "ytterbium". In 1907, the new earth "lutecia" was separated from ytterbia, from which the element "lutecium" was extracted by Georges Urbain, Carl Auer von Welsbach, and Charles James. After some discussion, Marignac's name "ytterbium" was retained.
context_section_description: Ytterbium forms both dihalides and trihalides with the halogens fluorine, chlorine, bromine, and iodine. The dihalides are susceptible to oxidation to the trihalides at room temperature and disproportionate to the trihalides and metallic ytterbium at high temperature:
  3 YbX₂ → 2 YbX₃ + Yb (X = F, Cl, Br, I)
  Some ytterbium halides are used as reagents in organic synthesis. For example, ytterbium(III) chloride (YbCl₃) is a Lewis acid and can be used as a catalyst in the Aldol and Diels–Alder reactions. Ytterbium(II) iodide (YbI₂) may be used, like samarium(II) iodide, as a reducing agent for coupling reactions. Ytterbium(III) fluoride (YbF₃) is used as an inert and non-toxic tooth filling as it continuously releases fluoride ions, which are good for dental health, and is also a good X-ray contrast agent.
caption: Crystal structure of ytterbium(III) oxide
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