Is it possible for inorganic material to "oil out" while it is crystallizing?

[amphibole]

Title says it all. I was trying to crystallize some InCl3 and came across something I had never seen before - an inorganic substance 'oiling out'. It was just rolling around in dense oil beads in the acetone at the bottom of my beaker.

I evaporated the solvent and washed it with acetone a few more times, and it became more clumpy and granular with each washing. Upon drying, a flame test proved that it had the indium cation in it, so I have little reason to believe that it isn't indium (III) chloride (unless it somehow reacted with the acetone, but I am skeptical of this). 

Does anyone know what happened to make it behave as an oil?

I've never seen that kind of behavior in an inorganic metal salt - plenty of times with organic molecules, but never with a simple salt like InCl3. 

[Sensei]

Oil is insoluble in water (and less dense than water so it makes upper layer on top of water), while InCl₃ is very soluble in water (195 g/100 mL)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indium(III)_chloride

Why do you think you made InCl₃?

 

Edited March 29, 2018 by Sensei

[amphibole]

Valid question! I am not implying that I made an oil, but the substance did exhibit some seemingly strange properties in that it did not readily dissolve in the acetone and instead rolled around at the bottom of the beaker in what I thought would best be described as oily-looking beads. Additionally, it did not exhibit any strange behavior until I poured in acetone, not water. It behaved as expected when it was in the aqueous solution. 

I say that I am certain that I made indium (III) chloride because of a few reasons.

1) I made a solution of copper (II) chloride and displaced the copper from it with indium metal. Simple single displacement, very similar to the classic "copper displaces silver from AgNO₃" demonstration.

2 In + 3 CuCl₂ -> 3 Cu + 2 InCl₃

I was left with a clear liquid and removed the copper metal flakes by decanting the liquid into another clean beaker. This was a pretty quick process, and I was around to watch the whole reaction, so I have no reason to believe that the anion somehow changed. Thus, I have no reason to believe that the anion is not Cl.

2) When I eventually got the solute to crystallize, I performed a flame test on it and the flame was dark blue. Also, I purchased the starting material (indium metal) from a reputable metal dealer. So, I have no reason to believe that the cation is not In. I am doubtful that it is the indium (I) cation, because the resultant crystals are colorless, which is not the case with indium (I) chloride.

I am just curious as to why I observed an "oil-like" behavior in this substance when I poured the acetone over it. 

Edited March 29, 2018 by amphibole