I must start by qualifying this question with: I am not a synthetic chemist, more of a materials chemist.

I am interested in studying a compound that is not much researched, which makes it troublesome when trying to obtain any.I found a paper in which the synthesis looks fairly straight forward but requires a AlCl3 / NaCl melt in which to reduce the starting material.

I have attempted to get the mixture to melt (in a dry, inert atmosphere) a few times and it just sits there 40 C over its supposed melting point and remains a powder. Has anyone done this before and can throw some tips my way? Or better yet, the paper I'm following is from the 1960s so perhaps there is an updated method preferred by chemists? It's for fusing 2 planar PAHs together.

Thanks in advance.