The chemistry and scope of erbium  and erbium compounds is reviewed here. We manufacture all these compounds and in most instances with these rare earth products , it is important to know the method of manufacture, solubilities, assays and trace impurities.

Rare earth compounds were named not because the individual rare earth elements are rare but because each individual rare earth element rarely exists as a single element but a s a mixture of rare earth elements. Erbium is named for Ytterby, a village in Sweden was discovered by Carl Gustaf Mosander in 1843.  Mosander separated "yttria" from the mineral gadolinite into three fractions which he called yttria,  erbia, and terbia. He named the new element after the village of Ytterby where large concentrations of yttria and erbium are located. Erbia and terbia, however, were confused at this time. After 1860, terbia was renamed erbia and after 1877 what had been known as erbia was renamed terbia. Fairly pure Er₂O₃ was independently isolated in 1905 by Georges Urbain and Charles James. Reasonably pure metal wasn't produced until 1934 when Klemm and Bommer reduced the anhydrous chloride with potassium vapor. It was only in the 1990s that the price for Chinese-derived erbium oxide became low enough for erbium to be considered for use as a colorant in art glass.

The composition of monozite ore is the basis for rare earth impurities found in erbium compounds and the level of impurities is directly related to the separation and source of these ores. The principal commercial sources of erbium are from the minerals  xenotime and euxenite, and most recently, the ion adsorption clays of southern China; in consequence, China has now become the principal global supplier of this element. In the high-yttrium versions of these ore concentrates, yttrium is about two-thirds of the total by weight, and erbia is about 4-5%. When the concentrate is dissolved in acid, the erbia liberates enough erbium ion to impart a distinct and characteristic pink color to the solution. This color behavior is similar to what Mosander and the other early workers in the lanthanides would have seen in their extracts from the gadolinite minerals of Ytterby.

Level of impurities:

 99.9%(REO)  1000ppm total rare earth oxide impurities

99.99%(REO)  100ppm total rare earth oxide impurities

99.999%(REO)  10ppm total rare earth oxide impurities

99.9999%(REO)  1ppm total rare earth oxide impurities

For a certificate of analysis for any of these products ordered contact: techservice@rareearthproducts.com

Erbium chloride, bromide and nitrates are isolated as the hexahydrates and are very soluble in water. Anhydrous halides are also available. Erbium acetate is somewhat soluble in water. (It is important to work with the manufacturer of your rare earth products because in the case of acetates the solubility varies widely depending on the method of manufacture and reaction conditions.

A new exciting erbium compound is erbium trifluoroacetate which is very soluble in water and has new uses as a catalyst in organic synthesis. Erbium oxalate, carbonate and sulfate are insoluble in water and exist as a defined hydrate. These compounds can also be dehydrated.

Another example of purchasing rare earth compounds from a known manufacturer is erbium fluoride. The rare earth fluorides are used in advanced material  films, lens and glasses. In virtually all applications the fluoride should be carbonate free. Rare Earth Products, Inc. uses a proprietary process to make carbonate free rare earth fluorides.

Rare earth Products, Inc makes the most extensive list of rare earth metal beta diketonates. These organometallic compounds are used for MOCVD, spin coating, catalysts and NMR shift reagents to name a few advanced applications. The compounds offered include rare earth metal complexes with

acetylacetonate or 2,4-pentanedionate ACAC

 hepatfluorodimethyloctanedionate FOD

hexafluoracetylacetonate HFAC

tetrametylheptanedionate TMHD 

trifluroacetylacetonate TFAC

chiral ligands OPT etc.

 Most of these compounds are used because of  the physical vapor pressure, volatility and organic solvent solubility. Contact our technical service department to get physical data such as melting points, sublimation temperatures,  solubility,  boiling points,  etc - techservice@rareearthproducts.com.

Rare Earth Products, Inc also manufactures the organic soluble compounds erbium 2-ethylhexanoate and erbium cyclohexanebutyrate. These metal organic  compounds are soluble in organic solvents. We can also custom synthesize various rare earth p compounds by adding various ligands, dehydrating and coordinating various organic solvents to enhance non polar solubility. Contact techservice@rareearthproducts.com.

The intermetallics erbium sulfide, erbium selenide and erbium telluride are available upon request. Erbium trifluoromethanesulfonate or erbium triflate is available and useful as a Friedel -Crafts catalyst as the anhydrous salt or the hydrate. A new compound erbium thenoyltrifluoroacetonate is used as a thermal laser dye.