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Ascorbic acid.

Forgot to add that worked likely the worst. I wasted over 100 grams for nothing.

Rhodanide - 4-6-2017 at 18:03

I also forgot to add that I would love to know where to get Sodium Bisulfite that isn't a wine maker's shop or whatnot, because there's nothing like that anywhere around here.

ninhydric1 - 4-6-2017 at 20:29

You could prepare sodium bisulfite by bubbling sulfur dioxide gas into a saturated solution of sodium carbonate.

Na2CO3 + 2 SO2 + H2O => 2 NaHSO3 + CO2

Waffles SS - 4-6-2017 at 20:51

42 g of copper(II) chloride are dissolved in 100 ml of hot water containing 32 g metallic copper (granulated or turnings). 200 ml of hydrochloric acid (d=1.175g/ml) is added and the reaction mixture is boiled gently under reflux until the solution becomes colorless. During an experiment additionally a small amount of concentrated hydrochloric acid is added to ensure that solution becomes colorless. This operation lasts one to two hours and when is complete the colorless solution is decanted from the metallic copper into a cylinder filled with cold distilled water. The dilution with water decomposes H3CuCl4 complex and cheesy precipitated copper(I) chloride is allowed to settle, decanted immediately, quickly filtered, washed with alcohol, ether, and dried in a vacuum desiccator. Copper(I) chloride forms heavy white masses, insoluble in water, and oxidizes easily in the air yielding green oxidized product.

Laboratory manual of inorganic preparations, by H. T. Vulte, 73-74, 1895

unionised - 5-6-2017 at 01:22

Treatment of Copper(I) chloride with sodium hydroxide solution will convert it to the oxide.

Rhodanide - 5-6-2017 at 08:43

Quote: Originally posted by ninhydric1

You could prepare sodium bisulfite by bubbling sulfur dioxide gas into a saturated solution of sodium carbonate.

Na2CO3 + 2 SO2 + H2O => 2 NaHSO3 + CO2

What I said may have been missed, but I don't have an efficient way to generate SO2.

Rhodanide - 5-6-2017 at 08:46

Quote: Originally posted by Waffles SS

42 g of copper(II) chloride are dissolved in 100 ml of hot water containing 32 g metallic copper (granulated or turnings). 200 ml of hydrochloric acid (d=1.175g/ml) is added and the reaction mixture is boiled gently under reflux until the solution becomes colorless. During an experiment additionally a small amount of concentrated hydrochloric acid is added to ensure that solution becomes colorless. This operation lasts one to two hours and when is complete the colorless solution is decanted from the metallic copper into a cylinder filled with cold distilled water. The dilution with water decomposes H3CuCl4 complex and cheesy precipitated copper(I) chloride is allowed to settle, decanted immediately, quickly filtered, washed with alcohol, ether, and dried in a vacuum desiccator. Copper(I) chloride forms heavy white masses, insoluble in water, and oxidizes easily in the air yielding green oxidized product.

Laboratory manual of inorganic preparations, by H. T. Vulte, 73-74, 1895

While I don't have much time to do that, I don't either have a generously available source of pure copper metal. I make my CuCl2 from Cu Carbonate and HCl.

Thanks for all of the help, btw guys!

Texium - 5-6-2017 at 08:55

Ascorbic acid.

Forgot to add that worked likely the worst. I wasted over 100 grams for nothing.

Did you use NaCl as a source of chloride ions? Cause if not then nothing will happen. Check out the SM wiki page. Chemistry doesn't just decide to work for some people and not for others. If a reaction that should work doesn't work for you, clearly you're doing something wrong.

http://www.sciencemadness.org/smwiki/index.php/Copper(I)_chloride

ELRIC - 5-6-2017 at 09:16

Quote: Originally posted by Waffles SS

While I don't have much time to do that, I don't either have a generously available source of pure copper metal. I make my CuCl2 from Cu Carbonate and HCl.

Thanks for all of the help, btw guys!

Do you live anywhere near new residential construction?

That's how I get my copper, from the scrap wire the electricians leave laying around

Might want to ask the contractor first though

RogueRose - 5-6-2017 at 12:25

Looking at the Wiki page CuCl, it states the folllowing:

Quote:

Copper(I) chloride can also be prepared by reducing copper(II) chloride, e.g. with sulfur dioxide:

2 CuCl2 + SO2 + 2 H2O → 2 CuCl + H2SO4 + 2 HCl

Many other reducing agents can be used.

In another thread about making Cu2O there was talk about using monosaccharide sugars as a reducing agent (glucose & fructose - honey is a good source, all monosaccharides I believe and also molasses will work which is a 2:1:1 sucrose:glucose:fructose - as well as one thing that mentioned sugar invert which is table sugar mixed with something like citric acid to break down into glucose/fructose). Could the sugar be used to replace the SO2 in the above equation

On another note, I was playing with some CuSO4 crystals and 12.5% NaClO. The two were mixed (about 4g of CuSO4 x 5H2O & 30ml NaClO). The reaction was instant and started bubbling pretty furiously while emitting some SO2 (and possibly a slight amount of Cl2). The mixture turned an aqua-green.

Here is what it looked like during the reaction and after it settled. I'm curious as to whether it has formed CuCl, CuCl2 or Cu(OH)2. It looks like all of them can have the same color in various solutions (if mixed with other compounds)so it is difficult to determine ATM.

Melgar - 5-6-2017 at 12:41

Well, the green indicates copper chloride; the copper probably just catalyzed the hypochlorite decomposition into oxygen and chloride. The pale green stuff is probably just a mix of sodium sulfate (white), copper hydroxide (light blue), copper carbonate, (light green) and copper chloride (green). SO2 and Cl2 production was probably insignificant, and the bubbles would have been primarily oxygen.

OP could possibly try using copper as a reducing agent, since that would be the easiest of all of them to purify. It might take a while though.

edit: Oh. Right, that was just suggested. It seems really odd to not be able to find copper though. Don't old scraps of wire exist pretty much everywhere? And the same with electronics that are broken beyond repair? The metal in electrical wires is always quite high purity, since pure metals tend to conduct electricity best.

[Edited on 6/5/17 by Melgar]

Rhodanide - 7-6-2017 at 05:08

Well, the green indicates copper chloride; the copper probably just catalyzed the hypochlorite decomposition into oxygen and chloride. The pale green stuff is probably just a mix of sodium sulfate (white), copper hydroxide (light blue), copper carbonate, (light green) and copper chloride (green). SO2 and Cl2 production was probably insignificant, and the bubbles would have been primarily oxygen.

OP could possibly try using copper as a reducing agent, since that would be the easiest of all of them to purify. It might take a while though.

edit: Oh. Right, that was just suggested. It seems really odd to not be able to find copper though. Don't old scraps of wire exist pretty much everywhere? And the same with electronics that are broken beyond repair? The metal in electrical wires is always quite high purity, since pure metals tend to conduct electricity best.

[Edited on 6/5/17 by Melgar]

Where'd the Carbonate come from, lol

Rhodanide - 7-6-2017 at 05:10

Ascorbic acid.

Forgot to add that worked likely the worst. I wasted over 100 grams for nothing.

Nope, I used the reaction of Copper (II) Carbonate and HCl. It gave a dark green solution, as expected albeit a small amount of light green precipitate which settled on the flask bottom.

Texium - 7-6-2017 at 08:35

Ascorbic acid.

Forgot to add that worked likely the worst. I wasted over 100 grams for nothing.

Nope, I used the reaction of Copper (II) Carbonate and HCl. It gave a dark green solution, as expected albeit a small amount of light green precipitate which settled on the flask bottom.

I don't think you understood my post. The NaCl is necessary in the reduction using ascorbic acid. How you produced your copper(II) chloride is irrelevant. Read the wiki page that I linked, please, that's what it's there for.

Melgar - 7-6-2017 at 09:15

Where'd the Carbonate come from, lol

Bleach pretty much always has a small amount of sodium carbonate in it, from CO2 from the air or otherwise. It wouldn't be much, but there's always going to be at least a little, unless you got it from Sigma Aldrich or something.

Rhodanide - 8-6-2017 at 13:31

Where'd the Carbonate come from, lol

Huh, interesting!
Makes sense now :]

Rhodanide - 8-6-2017 at 13:33