Aluminum chloride

Aluminum chloride participates in the amination of exo-2-chloronorbornane to afford 2-azabicyclo[3.2.1]octane, small amounts of the 3-isomer and exo-2-aminonorbornane. It has been reported to promote the Friedel-Crafts acylation of 4-tert-butylbenzoyl chloride with mesitylene.

Aluminum chloride has been employed for the estimation of total contents of flavonoids in a freeze-dried extract isolated from Issopus officinalis. It has been employed for the synthesis of the following compounds:

• 3′-methyl-5′,6′,7′,7a′-tetrahydro-4′H-spiro(cyclohexane-1,1′-isobenzofuran)
• trans-methyl 2-(cyclohex-1-enyl)cyclohexyl ketone
• 1,1,3-trimethyl-1,4,5,6,7,7a-hexahydroisobenzofuran
• 1-((2R*,4aS*,8aR*)-2-methyldecahydronaphthalen-4ayl)ethanone

Aluminum chloride may be used as catalyst for the Friedel-Crafts polymerizations of 4-(trifluoromethoxy)benzyl bromide. It may be employed as catalyst for Fries rearrangement of phenyl isobutyrate at 140°C to afford a mixture of 2-hydroxy- and 4-hydroxy-isobutyrophenone.
It may be used to catalyze:

• Degradation of polystyrene to benzene.
• Carbonization of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.
• Colorimetric microassay of hydroperoxides.

The vapor-phase co-reductions with other metal halides by hydrogen results in finely divided intermetallics with applications as structural materials or compounds with useful thermoelectric, magnetic, and oxidation-resistance properties. Aluminum nitride can be synthesized from the elemnts with AlCl₃ added to help facilitate crystallization.