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Barium chloride is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is one of the most common water-soluble salts of barium. Like most other water-soluble barium salts, it is a white powder, highly toxic, and imparts a yellow-green coloration to a flame. It is also hygroscopic, converting to the dihydrate , which are colourless crystals with a bitter salty taste. It has limited use in the laboratory and industry. (2025). 9783527303854 ISBN 9783527303854
Barium chloride can in principle be prepared by the reaction between barium hydroxide or barium carbonate with hydrogen chloride. These basic salts react with hydrochloric acid to give hydrated barium chloride.
crystallizes in two forms (polymorphs). At room temperature, the compound is stable in the orthorhombic [[cotunnite]] () structure, whereas the cubic fluorite structure ([[|calcium fluoride]]) is stable between 925 and 963 °C. Both polymorphs accommodate the preference of the large ion for coordination numbers greater than six.Wells, A. F. (1984) ''Structural Inorganic Chemistry'', Oxford: Clarendon Press. . The coordination of is 8 in the fluorite structure and 9 in the cotunnite structure. When cotunnite-structure is subjected to pressures of 7–10 GPa, it transforms to a third structure, a monoclinic post-cotunnite phase. The coordination number of increases from 9 to 10.
In aqueous solution behaves as a simple salt; in water it is a 1:2 electrolyte and the solution exhibits a neutral pH. Its solutions react with sulfate ion to produce a thick white solid precipitate of barium sulfate.
This precipitation reaction is used in chlor-alkali plants to control the sulfate concentration in the feed brine for electrolysis.
Oxalate effects a similar reaction:
is stable in the air at room temperature, but loses one water of crystallization above , becoming , and becomes anhydrous above . may be formed by shaking the dihydrate with [[methanol]].
readily forms [[eutectics]] with [[alkali metal]] chlorides.
Its main laboratory use is as a reagent for the gravimetric determination of sulfates. The sulfate compound being analyzed is dissolved in water and hydrochloric acid is added. When barium chloride solution is added, the sulfate present precipitates as barium sulfate, which is then filtered through ashless filter paper. The paper is burned off in a muffle furnace, the resulting barium sulfate is weighed, and the purity of the sulfate compound is thus calculated.
In industry, barium chloride is mainly used in the purification of brine solution in caustic chlorine plants and also in the manufacture of heat treatment salts, case hardening of steel. It is also used to make red pigments such as Lithol red and Red Lake C. Its toxicity limits its applicability.
Barium chloride is not classified as a human carcinogen.
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