highpower48 - 14-6-2021 at 09:13
Was making sodium citrate yesterday and using citric acid and sodium carbonate, when boiling to drynessit turned 1st into a very viscous syrup that
was so viscous I broke a glass stir rod trying to stir it. When taken off the heat it almost instantly turned into a very hard glass like substance in
the beaker. Luckily I was able to add water reheat and dissolve this mess. Question, what went wrong in this simple reaction.
Thanks
karlos³ - 14-6-2021 at 09:37
I think first you dehydrated and then melted the trisodium citrate, and when you turned off the heat, it solidified.
Nothing that went wrong, actually thats exactly like you would expect it to react.
maldi-tof - 14-6-2021 at 12:04
Which citrate were you trying to synthesize? tri-sodium citrate, di-sodium hydrogencitrate or sodium dihydrogencitrate?
I have experience with the three of them. Na3Citrate 2-hydrate crystallizes if the temperature is not too high. If you boil the mixture, it will be
very hard to obtain the solid.
My advice: try with citric acid and sodium hydroxide, and try to concentrate at Max 80°C. I remember that was one of the key parameters.
With the other citrates, I only succeeded adding MeOH to the solution.