Schweizer's reagent like substance made with copper acetate
So I couldn't remember what copper based substance was able to dissolve cellulose and or cotton and came across Schweizer's reagent. I had couple
recent experiences with cotton dissolving when being used with copper acetate and either 35% H2O2 or NaOCl. The first time a mild 2.5% solution of
acetic acid and H2O2 was run through some copper wire, which caused a lot of foam, but the liquid passed through a cotton filter to remove the CuO
particles. I noticed that the size of the filter was about 1/2 the thickness after the filtration and it was mushy and a little sticky. I had washed
the copper/foam/CuO with 5% white vinegar before removing the filter.
I was later working with a good bit of very fine CuO that had been caught in a cotton filter when filtering some copper acetate. There was no free
acetic acid in the CuO mix as the solution to be filtered was made from dissolving copper acetate in water, then trying to make better crystals
(though ended up decomposing a bit of the copper acetate in solution while boiling it). There was about an inch of CuO in a 2" diameter filter and
this contained some copper acetate as well. I poured some 12% bleach into the filter thinking it would act similarly to CuSO4 (making pure CuO but
produce the oxdide, sodium acetate & Cl2) but instead it made a dark green/brown solution that completely dissolved the cotton (4-5 square swabs
worth) in a few minutes.
I don't think it is possible to dissolve cellulose with Cl2, I haven't found any information related to that so it seems that somehow this mixture was
able to dissolve the cellulose.
Now Schweizer's reagent - [Cu(NH3)4(H2O)2](OH)2 - is often made by mixing copper II Hydroxide with ammonia until it dissolves. Since there is no
source of ammonia in either of the "experiments" I did, I don't see how this could have been formed, so it seems that something else has happened.
I'm going to try again under more controlled circumstances to see if I can dissolve cellulose with copper acetate + XX.
I see now that cellulose acetate is made with either acetic acid or anhydride but the process isn't clear from what I've seen.
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