[chimhead]

Hi there fellow chemists,

I was just wondering if anyone here could advise on how to go about the Synthesis of Palladium Chloride. How would one go about this Synthesis?

How hard is this Synthesis?

I ask because i know a large market businesses interested in buying bulk Palladium Chloride, they have asked me to buy the product for them, however every website i have come across seems to be insanely expensive. Sigma Aldrich charge around £75.40 a gram!

Other chemical companies charge around £47.00 a gram, this is insane! because years ago i know i could get a gram of that stuff for
around 4-5 pounds or $12 in the late 90s and early 2000s.

The company has asked me to obtain at least 30 grams, so i was thinking could that be done in one
Synthesis? also is it a job for an advanced chemist?

Thanks
 

[Hunter2]

Well, Palladium mining is almost in Russia, so the price rised last years. Also the using for catalysts in cars and other application. Palladium is a noble metal and has to be treated like gold, silver, platinum. So the price change to the world market.
To make Palladiumchloride is not a big deal. Can be done in some steps. Get Palladiumoxide and treat with hydrochloric or any other palladium salt treat with hydroxide to precipitate palladium hydroxide and and after filtering dissolve in hydrochloric. The synthesis from the elemensts is also possible, but a little bit dangerous to use chlorine gas.

[curiouscat]

Biggest challenge will be to avoid any losses I think.

[chimhead]

Thanks yes, someone on another forum advised dissolving Pd metal in aqua regia, however even finding Palladium metals for cheap is quite hard. I will try and find a cheap supplier maybe Alibaba or some other trading hole sale is needed for this i can see why it is expensive 

Does anyone know how much 1 gram of Palladium metal to Palladium Chloride yield?

[Arkcon]

Hunter2: explained how the synthesis is conducted.  I for one really question the feasibility for you.  You got pound of palladium chloride for $12 in the '90's?  That doesn't seem logical, I don't think palladium was ever that inexpensive.

In fact, I don't have to guess, I can Google that right now:

http://www.palladiumcoins.com/priceJM.html

In the early 90's, palladium was much less expensive than it is now -- $150 USD per ounce.  That would be Troy Oz, given that palladium is a platinum metal, and one troy ounce is a little more than 31 grams.  The chemical compound, PdCl2, is 90% palladium by molecular weight, so yes, you could definitely have bought it back then at 4-5 £.  I was surprised by this calculation, but it seems to have worked out all right.  However, nowadays, its approx. 770 USD an oz.  So I don't suspect you'll be able to offer a real discount.

I knew a company that made yttrium chloride.  They'd diligently buy a gram, make yttrium chloride.  The customer said it was a perfect formulation, and wanted more.  So they made 10 grams -- still perfect, and make some more.  They made the 500 grams they needed for production.  Then the customer comes back with:"Useless, not good enough, we wont pay for it"  And the manufacturer knew this would happen, people balk at the high price tag, and fabricate complaints so they don't have to pay.  I would wouldn't be buying platinum metals and try to sell compounds as  a side business.  There's just too many risks, not even including what curiouscat: mentioned.

*EDIT* corrected typo -- I wouldn't be buying platinum metals

[curiouscat]

If you bought it from Alibaba how are you going to make sure they actually gave you 100% Pd?

[chimhead]

I did mean 4-5 pounds as in £ a gram to avoid any confusion, sorry i thought that was inplicit but i clearly should have stated that...  i cant seem to find Palladiumoxide on any uk sites, how much does a gram of Palladiumoxide go for now days?

[chimhead]

I should also add thaat i am doing this purely as a favour of labour, not to make profit i am trying to find the cheapest way of obtaining Palladium Chloride as it is so expensive \...