Sodium percarbonate

History

Sodium percarbonate was first prepared in 1899 by the Russian chemist Sebastian Moiseevich Tanatar (7 October 1849 – 30 November 1917).

Structure

At room temperature, solid sodium percarbonate has the orthorhombic crystal structure, with the Cmca crystallographic space group. The structure changes to Pbca as the crystals are cooled below about −30 C.

Chemistry

Dissolved in water, sodium percarbonate yields a mixture of hydrogen peroxide, sodium cations (), and carbonate ().

:2 Na2CO3*3 H2O2 - 3 H2O2 + 4 Na+ + 2 CO3^2-

Production

Sodium percarbonate is produced industrially by crystallization of a solution of sodium carbonate and hydrogen peroxide, with attention to the pH and concentrations. This method is also convenient for the laboratory preparation. Alternatively, dry sodium carbonate may be treated directly with concentrated hydrogen peroxide solution.

World production capacity of this compound was estimated at several hundred thousand tons for 2004.

Uses

As an oxidizing agent, sodium percarbonate is an ingredient in a number of home and laundry cleaning products, including non-chlorine bleach products such as Oxyper, OxiClean, Tide laundry detergent, and Vanish.

Many commercial products mix a percentage of sodium percarbonate with sodium carbonate. The average "Oxy" product in the supermarket contains 35–40% sodium percarbonate with about 5% active oxygen when titrated.

Sodium percarbonate is also used as a cleaning agent in homebrewing.

Sodium percarbonate can be used in organic synthesis as a convenient source of anhydrous , in particular in solvents that cannot dissolve the carbonate but can leach the out of it. A method for generating trifluoroperacetic acid in situ for use in Baeyer–Villiger oxidations from sodium percarbonate and trifluoroacetic anhydride has been reported; it provides a convenient and cheap approach to this reagent without the need to obtain highly concentrated hydrogen peroxide.

References

References

1. {{Sigma-Aldrich
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5. (2003). "Sodium percarbonate between 293 and 100 K". [[Acta Crystallographica Section B]].
6. (1 December 1977). "The crystal structure of sodium percarbonate: an unusual layered solid". Acta Crystallographica Section B Structural Crystallography and Crystal Chemistry.
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10. (1995). "Sodium perborate and sodium percarbonate: Cheap, safe and versatile oxidising agents for organic synthesis". Tetrahedron.
11. (January 1996). "New Method of Generating Trifluoroperoxy-acetic acid for the Baeyer-Villiger Reaction". Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society.
12. (2012). "Encyclopedia of Reagents for Organic Synthesis".