An oxychloride of composition S 2 0 3 C1 4 has been described.
The oxychloride, bromides, and other compounds were subsequently discovered; here we need only notice Moissan's preparation of the trifluoride and Thorpe's discovery of the pentafluoride, a compound of especial note, for it volatilizes unchanged, giving a vapour of normal density and so demonstrating the stability of a pentavalent phosphorus compound (the pentachloride and pentabromide dissociate into a molecule of the halogen element and phosphorus trichoride).
The oxychloride comes down as an amorphous white precipitate.
Another oxychloride, PbC1 2.7PbO, known as "Cassel yellow," was prepared by Vauquelin by fusing pure oxide, PbO, with one-tenth of its weight of sal ammoniac. "Turner's yellow" or "patent yellow" is another artificially prepared oxychloride, used as a pigment.
When heated in a current of carbon dioxide it forms the oxychloride CbOC1 3, and carbon monoxide.