ICl3

Iodine trichloride · Iodine(III) chloride

Iodine trichloride is a stable, semiconducting interhalogen compound frequently utilized as a chlorinating or oxidizing agent in chemical synthesis.

ClI
Crystal structure of ICl3 (triclinic, P-1 (No. 2))
Ground-state structure · Materials Project
Overview

About Iodine trichloride

Iodine trichloride is a distinct interhalogen compound formed by the combination of iodine and chlorine. As a thermodynamically stable species situated on the convex hull, it represents a well-defined chemical entity within its class of halogen-based materials.

Exhibiting semiconducting electronic characteristics, this compound is of significant interest in synthetic chemistry. Its structural diversity is evidenced by numerous reported configurations across multiple databases, highlighting its versatile role in chemical research.

At a glance

Key Properties

Cross-validated computational properties for Iodine trichloride, aggregated across 3 databases.

Band Gap

1.01–1.50 eV
Range across DFT structures · ground state: wide gap

Energy Above Hull

0.000 eV/atom
Best (lowest) across sources

Stability

Stable
3 DFT sources

Structures

47
3 databases, 9 space groups
Validation

Cross-Source DFT Agreement

How well independent DFT databases agree on the thermodynamics of ICl3. Tight agreement means computed properties can be trusted without re-running calculations.

Agreement Score

1.00 / 1.00
Trust tier: high

Hull Spread

0.000 eV
EAH spread across sources

Sources Compared

3
jarvis, materials_project, oqmd

Space Group Consensus

All match
Crystallography

Reported Structures

Lowest-energy structures reported for ICl3, ranked by energy above hull.

Space GroupCrystal SystemBand Gap (eV)E above hull (eV/atom)E/atom (eV)Density (g/cm³)
P-1 (No. 2)triclinic1.990.0000-10.9503.02
P-1 (No. 2)triclinic1.800.0000-2.4322.48
——1.500.0000-0.422—
P-1 (No. 2)triclinic1.460.0000-0.186—
P-1 (No. 2)triclinic1.460.0002-0.186—
Cm (No. 8)monoclinic1.010.1344-0.051—
——0.000.45010.028—
——0.000.47540.054—
——0.000.64870.227—
——0.000.67480.253—
P1 (No. 1)triclinic———2.44
P1 (No. 1)triclinic———4.38
Uses

Applications

Where Iodine trichloride is used.

Chlorinating agentOxidizing agentOrganic synthesis reagent
Reference

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about Iodine trichloride, answered from cross-validated data.

What is ICl3?

Iodine trichloride is a stable, semiconducting interhalogen compound frequently utilized as a chlorinating or oxidizing agent in chemical synthesis.

More questions
What is ICl3 used for?
Iodine trichloride (ICl3) is used in chlorinating agent, oxidizing agent, and organic synthesis reagent.
What is the band gap of ICl3?
Iodine trichloride (ICl3) has a DFT-computed band gap of 1.01–1.50 eV across 47 reported structures. Standard DFT underestimates band gaps, so the measured gap is typically larger.
Is ICl3 a metal, semiconductor, or insulator?
DFT predicts a band gap of up to 1.50 eV (a semiconductor). Measured gaps are typically larger.
Is ICl3 thermodynamically stable?
Yes — Iodine trichloride (ICl3) sits on the convex hull (energy above hull 0 eV/atom), i.e. stable.
What is the crystal structure of ICl3?
The reference structure of Iodine trichloride (ICl3) is triclinic symmetry, space group P-1 (No. 2).
What is the density of ICl3?
The computed density of the ground-state structure of Iodine trichloride (ICl3) is 3.02 g/cm³.
How many polymorphs of ICl3 are known?
47 structures of ICl3 are reported across 3 databases, spanning 9 distinct space groups.
What elements does ICl3 contain?
Iodine trichloride (ICl3) contains Cl and I (2 elements).
Where does the data for ICl3 come from?
ICl3 data is cross-referenced from materials_project, oqmd, jarvis, mpaloe, cod.
Comparison

How It Compares

As a standalone interhalogen compound in this context, iodine trichloride serves as a fundamental reference point for understanding the bonding and reactivity patterns inherent to iodine-chlorine systems.

Data sources & attribution
  • materials_project — Data from the Materials Project (materialsproject.org). Cite: Jain et al., APL Materials 1, 011002 (2013). (CC-BY-4.0)
  • oqmd — Data from the OQMD (oqmd.org). Cite: Saal et al., JOM 65, 1501 (2013); Kirklin et al., npj Comp. Mater. 1, 15010 (2015). (CC-BY-4.0)
  • jarvis — Data from JARVIS (jarvis.nist.gov), NIST. Cite: Choudhary et al., npj Comp. Mater. 6, 173 (2020). (LicenseRef-US-Gov-PD)
  • mpaloe — Data from MP-ALOE. Cite: Kuner et al., npj Comput. Mater. (2025), doi:10.1038/s41524-025-01834-9.
  • cod — Data from the Crystallography Open Database (crystallography.net/cod/). Cite: Grazulis et al., J. Appl. Cryst. 42, 726 (2009). (CC0-1.0)

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