I have tried several organic solvents (i.e. EtOH, IPA, 2-MOE, THF, etc), but all of them only result in a white colour suspension, even at heating up to 90 C.
@Ning
Reactions with bismuth salts often proceed as suspensions. Rapid stirring and finely pulverized bismuth salt crystals may help to facilitate biphasic/heterogeneous reactions. If your compounds are acid-sensitive, you may try DMSO, NMP, or DMF (if you haven't done so already). Your solvents may not need to be dry; some bismuth-catalyzed reactions (like acetal deprotection) proceed well with water.
As suggested before, bismuth(III) acetate is soluble in anhydrous acetic acid (HOAc). However, if the acid is not free from traces of water, both bismuth(III) oxide and bismuth(III) oxoacetate may form, owing to the following equilibria:
2Bi(OAc)3 + 3H2O ⇌ Bi2O3 + 6HOAc
Bi2O3 + 2HOAc ⇌ 2(BiO)OAc + H2O
I am interested in the answer and more specifically, what colour the final solution was.
I had bismuth triacetate suspended in THF @ -70 deg C, but as it warmed to R.T. it went pink. Is this normal for the acetate? I know pepto bismol is pink, but not sure if the acetate behaves the same way.
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