[1] It can also be prepared from the reaction between uranium tetrachloride and chlorine in a fluidized bed reactor at 550 °C.

[1] Uranium pentachloride is available as red-brown microcrystalline powders or black-red crystals with metallic sheen.

Additionally, it reacts with some organic solvents such as alcohols, acetone, diethyl ether, or dioxane, but does form stable solutions in carbon tetrachloride, carbon disulfide, and thionyl chloride.

There is also a triclinic β-form, which has space group P1[2] and consists of U2Cl10 dimers like in uranium pentabromide.

[3] The gaseous form has C4v symmetry due to strong f-orbital contribution, and has an electron affinity of 4.76±0.03 eV.