Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T08:27:01.408Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Sodium Copper Oxalate Dihydrate: Na2Cu (C2O4)2. 2H2O Synthesis, Characterization, Morphology and Optical Properties

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2013

R. Polou
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Minéralogie et Cristallographie, Université Paul-Sabatier 39 Allée J. Guesde, 31400 Toulouse, France
C. Triche
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Chimie Analytique, Faculté des Sciences Pharmaceutiques, 31 Allée J. Guesde, 31400 Toulouse, France
B. Barbier
Affiliation:
Mineralogisches Institut der Universität, Poppelsdorfer Schloss, 53 Bonn, République Fédérale d'Allemagne
G. Pitet
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Chimie Analytique, Faculté des Sciences Pharmaceutiques, 31 Allée J. Guesde, 31400 Toulouse, France

Abstract

Crystals of sodium copper oxalate dihydrate [Na2Cu (C2O4)2.2H2,O] were obtained by the gel method, from solutions of oxalic acid and copper chloride. The crystals form blue needles with idiomorphic faces of brilliant luster, permitting goniometric measurements and the determination of the morphology with the aid of crystallographic parameters. Optically the crystals are biaxial negative, 2V = 38°, with a weak dispersion r<v. The orientation of the indicatrix was determined using a universal stage.

Crystals of sodium copper oxalate dihydrate, Na2Cu (C2O4)2.2H2O, were apparently first obtained in 1929 by Riley. Gleizes et al. (1980) undertook a preliminary crystallographic study of crystals obtained by a different technique from Riley's. In the first case, a solution of 33.5 g/L of sodium oxalate was heated and then poured gradually into a nearly saturated solution of copper sulfate until slight turbidity appeared. The turbidity was eliminated and the solution clarified by the addition of a little more sodium oxalate solution. In this way Riley obtained a dark blue solution which after filtration yielded extremely fine sky-blue needle-like crystals, rarely more than 8mm long. In the method of Gleizes et al. (1980), copper oxalate was dissolved in an aqueous solution of sodium oxalate; those authors observed complete dissolution when the molar ratio of sodium oxalate to copper oxalate was near 2. By evaporating the solution, they obtained long, prismatic crystals whose crystallographic constants they determined.

In order to obtain crystals large enough for further crystallographic study, we set out to produce crystals of sodium copper oxalate by the gel method (Triché, 1984). We found that slow crystallization did encourage the formation of large crystals.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Burri, C. (1975). Schweiz. Mineral. Petrog. Mitt. 55, 167190.Google Scholar
Gleizes, A., Maury, F. & Galy, J. (1980). Inorg. 19(7), 20742078.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
NBS Silicon SRM 640 (1974). Replaced by Standard Reference Material 640b, Silicon Powder X-Ray Diffraction Standard (1987). Obtainable from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Office of Standard Reference Materials, Gaithersburg, MD 20899. Current price will be quoted on request.Google Scholar
Riley, H. L. (1929). J. Chem. Soc. 135, 13071314.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Triché, C., Pitet, G. & Dorignac, M. R. (1981) Talanta 28, 447450.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Triché, C., (1984). Contribution à l'étude du mécanisme de formation des calculs rénaux. Cas particulier des cristaux d'oxalate de calcium.Google Scholar
PhD Thesis, Univ. of Toulouse (France).Google Scholar