To get into Silver Chemistry, you may which to make Silver acetate from dissolving Ag in a Vinegar/H2O2 solution. As long as the solution remains
acidic, the Silver acetate is soluble. Dilute and the Silver acetate could precipitate (I have made AgC2H3O2, but always kept it dissolved as a path
to other silver salts).
Now, to make more conc Acetic acid, add a slight excess of the AgC2H3O2 precipitate to HCl:
AgC2H3O2 + HCl --> AgCl (s) + CH3COOH
remove the white Silver chloride from your new conc Acetic acid. To prepare HCl, see a recent thread.
No HCl, perhaps the following approach of passing an excess of CO2 into a cold conc AgC2H3O2 solution:
2 AgC2H3O2 + H2O + CO2 --> Ag2CO3 (s) +2 CH3COOH
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Another path, place the AgC2H3O2 in a small amount of water and let it sit in sunlight. My speculation (and it is speculation as the only thing I have
observed is that Silver acetate dissolved in Acetic acid will decompose in modest light in time with the creation of a grey Ag suspension and not
Ag2O):
AgC2H3O2 + H2O --Light--> AgOH (s) + CH3COOH
2 AgOH ---> Ag2O + H2O
So on net:
AgC2H3O2 + H2O --Light--> 1/2 Ag2O (s) + 1/2 H2O + CH3COOH
and even more problematic is that this reaction seems reversible, so may only work in dilute solutions. It may be better to let the solution stand in
light in open air as CO2 could help push the reaction.
[Edited on 1-3-2013 by AJKOER] |