Chemistry - Copper acetate solution turning clear

Wikipedia states that upon heating, copper(II) acetate reacts with metallic copper to make copper(I) acetate, which would be colorless. While this is no guarantee of what happened with your solution, you can mix a sample of the solution with saltwater (chloride ions). White precipitate = copper(I).

In light of a comment, I am compelled to expand on the possibility of copper(I) in solution. According to the Wiley Online Library, this salt is soluble in water with hydrolysis to cuprous oxide. At the same time we have the copper Pourbaix diagram reported from Ref. 1, indicating that the oxide is stable only above a pH of 4.

enter image description here

This means any significant leftover acetic acid could prevent the hydrolysis and keep the copper(I) in solution, apparently stabilized by complexing with the acetate ion given that disproportionation is not reported. (Such a stabilization is not included in the above diagram but would contract the Cu2O region further.)

Since this is only indirect evidence, again testing for a copper(I) chloride precipitate by mixing a sample with saltwater is recommended.

Reference

1. Oh, Youn-Jin & Park, Gyung-Soon & Chung, Chan-Hwa. (2006). Planarization of Copper Layer for Damascene Interconnection by Electrochemical Polishing in Alkali-Based Solution. Journal of The Electrochemical Society - J ELECTROCHEM SOC. 153. 10.1149/1.2200288.

Tags:

Metal

Related

Chemistry - How to switch Mercury-vapor lamp between UVA and UVC bands? Chemistry - What are the GDB-13 criteria for "synthetically accessible organic molecules"? Chemistry - How to calculate the half time of a unimolecular reaction given the Arrhenius coefficient and the activation energy? Chemistry - Darzens reaction on allylic position Chemistry - Reactivity of alkyl halides Chemistry - Do all metal salts in aqueous solution contain metal aquo complexes? Chemistry - How is exact racemization possible? Chemistry - Particle in a box with different barriers between two molecules Chemistry - What happens in an exothermic reaction at the atomic level? Chemistry - Stacking two square (2D) layers to make a 3D close packed structure Chemistry - What does the phase diagram mean by "liquid" at NTP? (The liquid and vapor coexist even when the situation is not on the curve) Chemistry - Under what circumstances would azeotrope exist in non ideal solutions? (when would the dew point curve and the bubble point curve meet?)

Recent Posts