Interaction | Reaction | Process     Data Page

When carbonate ion (from sodium carbonate, for example) is added to a colourless solution of hexaaquaaluminium ion, the complex cation acts as a Brønsted acid and loses three protons giving a gelatinous white precipitate of the neutral complex triaaquatrihydroxyaluminium, and three protons.

The carbonate ion is protonated to carbonic acid which is unstable and decomposes to carbon dioxide - with effervescence - and water.

2
[Al(H2O)6]3+
  +  
3
[CO3]2–
         
2
Al(H2O)3(OH)3
Al(OH)3
  +  
3
CO2
  +  
3
H2O
Reactant Page Go To Go To
Hexaaquaaluminium complex ion     Reactions Using    Reactions Forming
Carbonate ion     Reactions Using    Reactions Forming
Triaquatrihydroxyaluminium     Reactions Using    Reactions Forming
Carbon dioxide     Reactions Using    Reactions Forming
Water     Reactions Using    Reactions Forming

Interaction, Reaction, Process defined as:
British A-Level Chemistry: A2
Effervescence
Precipitation
Proton transfer: Brønsted reaction

© Mark R. Leach 1999 –


Queries, Suggestions, Bugs, Errors, Typos...

If you have any:

Queries
Comments
Suggestions
Suggestions for links
Bug, typo or grammatical error reports about this page,

please contact Mark R. Leach, the author, using mark@meta-synthesis.com