Copper carbonate or cupric carbonate is a chemical compound with formula. At ambient temperatures, it is an ionic solidconsisting ofcopper cations and carbonate anions. This compound is rarely encountered because it is difficult to prepare and readily reacts with water moisture from the air. The terms "copper carbonate", "copper carbonate", and "cupric carbonate" almost alwaysrefer to a basic copper carbonate, such as 2 or 22. For this reason, the qualifier neutral may be used instead of "basic" to refer specifically to.
Preparation
Reactions that may be expected to yield, such as mixing solutions of copper sulfate and sodium carbonate in ambient conditions, yield instead a basic carbonate and, due to the great affinity of the ion for the hydroxideanion. Thermal decomposition of the basic carbonate at atmospheric pressure yields copper oxide rather than the carbonate. In 1960, C. W. F. T. Pistorius claimed synthesis by heating basic copper carbonate at 180 °C in an atmosphere of carbon dioxide and water for 36 hours. The bulk of the products was well-crystallized malachite2, but a small yield of a rhombohedral substance was also obtained, claimed to be. However, this synthesis was apparently not reproduced. Reliable synthesis of true copper carbonate was reported for the first time in 1973 by Hartmut Ehrhardt and others. The compound was obtained as a gray powder, by heating basic copper carbonate in an atmosphere of carbon dioxide at 500 °C and 2 GPa. The compound was determined to have a monoclinic structure.
The stability of dry depends critically on the partial pressure of carbon dioxide. It is stable for months in dry air, but decomposes slowly into and if pCO2 is less than 0.11 atm. In the presence of water or moist air at 25 °C, is stable only for pCO2 above 4.57 atmospheres and pH between about 4 and 8. Below that partial pressure, it reacts with water to form a basic carbonate 22). In highly basic solutions, the complex anion 22− is formed instead. The solubility product of the true copper carbonate was measured by Reiterer and others as pKso = 11.45 ± 0.10 at 25 °C.
