Ammonia → Ammonium Chloride

Vanadates, such as butyl vanadate, have been prepared by reacting vanadium oxytrichloride with an excess of butyl alcohol in the presence of ammonia to form butyl vanadate and ammonium chloride. The butyl vanadate solution was separated from the ammonium chloride crystals by filtration. However, since the crystalline ammonium chloride has a tendency to plug the filter, it is difficult to filter off the butyl vanadate. Moreover, the filtration step must be conducted in a closed system to prevent hydrolysis of the butyl vanadate, thus resulting in an expensive process.