Barium hydroxy ethoxylate: A new green and highly soluble barium compound.

• A novel barium compound (Ba(OH)(OEt)) was initially synthesized in this study. • The dissolution process of barium oxide in ethanol is actually a chemical reaction. • Ba(OH)(OEt) exists as individual molecules without solvation or coordination. • Ba(OH)(OEt) is a green and highly soluble (29.79%) barium precursor material. In this study, barium hydroxy ethoxylate (Ba(OH)(OEt)) was synthesized for the first time as a new barium compound by dissolving barium oxide into ethanol (EtOH). The results, in contrast to the previous studies, reveal that the dissolving process is actually a chemical reaction of barium oxide and ethanol rather than a simple solvation, and barium hydroxy ethoxylate is uniformly dispersed among ethanol molecules without any solvation or coordination. Furthermore, barium hydroxy ethoxylate is highly soluble (29.79%) and its solvent ethanol is friendly to people and environment, which makes it a promising barium precursor in many applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]