Tin (II) Chloride

Despite its being a simple inorganic compound, Tin (II) Chloride is notoriously difficult to make in high purity, and this is reflected in its usually high price on the market, even for indifferent purity grades. The difficulties stem mainly from three facts: firstly, that SnCl₂ is a fairly potent reducing agent and is therefore sensitive to atmospheric oxygen and other contaminants, especially at elevated temperatures; secondly, that Sn(II) compounds can disproportionate readily into Sn(0) and Sn(IV); and thirdly, that it is also prone to hydrolysis, decomposing to the basic chloride Sn(OH)Cl plus HCl. As a result, most of the less expensive commercial grades of SnCl₂ from the majority of manufacturers contain significant amounts of basic chloride and/or Sn(IV) compounds (usually beta-stannic acid), in addition to various metallic impurities which often render them unsuitable for plating and other high-purity applications, such as catalysis of organic reactions, organotin chemistry, and the textile dyeing industry (where impurities would corrupt the colour of the dyes).

The 'industry standard' method for producing high-purity Tin (II) Chloride is to first manufacture a low-purity or 'crude' version of the product and then sequentially extract the major impurities in several steps. This process is time-consuming, costly, and fails to remove every impurity. The reason for the very competitive price of Dawnmist's Tin (II) Chloride is that we eliminate the separate purification process and directly synthesise the pure compound instead in a straightforward two-step process using dedicated and highly automated plant.

Dawnmist has developed a unique proprietary process for the manufacture of SnCl₂, combining synthesis in a protective atmosphere with in-vacuo dewatering under special conditions which inhibit disproportionation and hydrolysis of the product, as well as permitting dewatering to be performed at very modest temperature to prevent unintended reactions. Additionally, the synthesis step incorporates a special treatment to strip out Arsenic (As), Antimony (Sb) and Copper (Cu), which are the major metallic impurities found in refined tin metal. By combining this process with high-purity virgin tin as the starting material, we achieve excellent purity without the cost penalty usually associated with highly-purified SnCl₂.

Dawnmist's expertise with tin compounds grew out of our electronics work, developing our in-house Printed Circuit Board (PCB) fabrication process, and we have been using this process, including SnCl₂ manufactured by Dawnmist, for some years already -- so we have proven capability in this field and our product has proven performance in high-quality plating applications.

Quite apart from a formal assay, there is a simple way to demonstrate the relative purity of the Dawnmist product compared with normal merchant-market Tin (II) Chloride -- one method is to dissolve a sample in a very small amount of distilled water (1 ml per gram). This forms a solution which is too concentrated to undergo hydrolysis, but the common impurities, basic tin chloride (Sn(OH)Cl) and beta-stannic acid (SnO₂. xH₂O) will not dissolve. Typical commodity SnCl₂ shows a cloudy solution because of these impurities, while the Dawnmist product gives a perfectly clear solution. A similar effect occurs if you dissolve the compound in methanol, ethanol or isopropanol -- although hydrolysis is impossible, the same two impurities likewise fail to dissolve.

More Information on Tin (II) Chloride, SnCl₂

Using Hemihydrate in place of Dihydrate -- Save Money!

Because of the manufacturing process we use, the Hemihydrate SnCl₂.½H₂O works out as the most economical way to buy stannous chloride since it contains much less water (and hence more SnCl₂) than the Dihydrate. Any process that calls for a solution of stannous chloride (dihydrate) in water (with or without other ingredients) can equally well use the more economical Hemihydrate: simply use 88% of the weight of dihydrate specified and make up the extra 12% with water. In other words, each gram of dihydrate can be replaced with 0.88 grams of hemihydrate and 0.12 grams of water. Once made up into solution, the result is identical but you save typically 5% on the cost. And since our stannous chloride is already much cheaper than all our known competitors, you can make huge savings by switching to Dawnmist.

Other Information

Detailed data on Tin (II) Chloride, from Wikipedia

MSDS for Dawnmist's Tin (II) Chloride

Email our Technical Help/Information Service

Pricing and Ordering Details

Dihydrate and Hemihydrate are available now. Anhydrous will be released shortly.

The table below lists the pricing for small-to-medium quantities of product. If you would like a quotation for a larger amount, please contact us. Detailed ordering and payment information, plus contact points, will be found on the Fine Chemicals Main Page. Prices shown do not include shipping, which will be charged at cost -- please contact us for shipping costs to your destination.

All prices are listed in GB Pounds (£) per kg  -- we will supply any amount you choose, in multiples of 100 grams. Please contact us for quotations in other currencies or for quantities significantly larger than 25 kg. For regular users we are able to offer scheduled orders at a further discount; please email us with your requirements.

Product	Order Code	0.1 - 0.9 kg	1.0 - 4.9 kg	5.0 - 9.9 kg	10.0 - 24.9 kg	25.0 kg or more
SnCl2 (Anhydrous)	DFC-4010	£ Enquire	£ Enquire	£ Enquire	£ Enquire	£ Enquire
SnCl2.½H2O (Hemihydrate)	DFC-4011	£ 65.80 per kg	£ 54.90 per kg	£ 50.50 per kg	£ 47.70 per kg	£ 46.60 per kg
SnCl2.2H2O (Dihydrate)	DFC-4012	£ 60.80 per kg	£ 50.70 per kg	£ 46.60 per kg	£ 44.10 per kg	£ 43.00 per kg

Email our Sales Department

Click here to return to the Fine Chemicals main page