[4] Some articles from the 1920s and 1930s claim the synthesis of bulk amounts of this compound in pure form;[5][6] however, those results do not seem to have been reproduced, or have been attributed to other substances like the hexachlorocobaltate(III) anion CoCl3−6.

[1] Those earlier reports claim that it gives green solutions in anhydrous solvents such as ethanol and diethyl ether, and that it is stable only a very low temperatures (below −60 °C).

[7] The infrared spectrum of the compound in frozen argon indicates that the isolated CoCl3 molecule is planar with D3h symmetry.

[8] Aerodynamic properties for the gas phase have been determined by the Glushko Thermocenter of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

[1] In a 1932 report, the compound was claimed to arise in the electrolysis of cobalt(II) chloride in anhydrous ethanol.