Chloroplatinic acid

Chloroplatinic acid or hexachloroplatinic acid is an inorganic compound with the formula 2(H2O)x (0≤x≤6). A red solid, it is an important commercial source of platinum, usually as an aqueous solution. Although often written in shorthand as H2PtCl6, it is the hydronium (H3O+) salt of the hexachloroplatinate anion (PtCl2−6).. Hexachloroplatinic acid is highly hygroscopic. Chloroplatinic acid or hexachloroplatinic acid is an inorganic compound with the formula 2(H2O)x (0≤x≤6). A red solid, it is an important commercial source of platinum, usually as an aqueous solution. Although often written in shorthand as H2PtCl6, it is the hydronium (H3O+) salt of the hexachloroplatinate anion (PtCl2−6).. Hexachloroplatinic acid is highly hygroscopic. Hexachloroplatinic acid may be produced via a variety of methods. The most common of these methods involves dissolution of platinum in aqua regia. Other methods include exposing an aqueous suspension of platinum particles to chlorine gas, or via electrolysis. When produced by the aqua regia route, hexachloroplatinic acid is thought to arise by the following equation: