HamiltonMaya
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Reaction of Ammonium Chloride and Sodium Bicarbonate
I'd got it into my head that mixing NH4Cl and NaHCO3 in hot water would produce NH5CO3 (ammonium bicarbonate) and NaCl. But going back over my notes
this morning I can't find my source, and on searching the internet again I can't find that information anywhere. I have found them coexisting happily
during the Solvay process, which suggests that I was wrong, but that's a complicated process. I'm starting to think I made a mistake in my notes.
Does anyone have any sources to support the NH4Cl + NaHCO3 -> NH5CO3 + NaCl reaction, or anything to disprove it?
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Maurice VD 37
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First don't write NH5CO3, as if the five H atoms were similar. No ! You should write NH4HCO3. This shows that this substance is made of two ions :
NH4+ and HCO3-. This substance may be obtained at room temperature when bubbling CO2 in a NH3 solution It is a commercial substance. But it is
unstable. It gets decomposed slowly and spontaneously at room temperatures, so that it can be kept only in closed containers. It smells of ammonia.
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HamiltonMaya
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I'm aware of the CO2 + NH3 route, but I'm trying to establish what side reactions will be taking place during another procedure, rather than
attempting to synthesize NH4HCO3.
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njl
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NH4Cl forms an acidic solution. If this solution is mixed with aq NaHCO3, CO2 will be released and there will be NaCl and freebase NH3 left in
solution. While there's some equilibrium between each reaction I imagine that it will still strongly favor CO2 over HCO3-.
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Bedlasky
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Solvay process do opposite to what you want. NaHCO3 is precipitated from NH4HCO3 solution because it is less soluble. So your propose won't work,
because NaHCO3 is less soluble than NH4HCO3.
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