Aluminium Carbonate
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IupacnameDialuminium Tricarbonate

Aluminium carbonate (Al2(CO3)3), is a carbonate of aluminium. It is not well characterized; one authority[which?] says that simple carbonates of aluminium are not known.[1] However, related compounds are known, such as the basic sodium aluminium carbonate mineral dawsonite (NaAlCO3(OH)2) and hydrated basic aluminium carbonate minerals scarbroite (Al5(CO3)(OH)13•5(H2O)) and hydroscarbroite (Al14(CO3)3(OH)36•nH2O).[2][3][4]

Preparation

For many years there was no evidence for the existence of a simple aluminium carbonate, Al2(CO3)3, as the combination of Al3+ and carbonates are sufficiently alkaline to precipitate aluminium hydroxide and produce carbon dioxide:[5]

2[Al(H2O)6]^{3+}(aq) + 3CO3^{2-}(aq) -> 2Al(OH)3 (s) + 3CO2 (g) + 9H2O (l)

However, in 2023, Al2(CO3)3 was produced by heating aluminium oxide at 2300 °C under 24 GPa of carbon dioxide. The resulting solid is stable in air and at room temperature.[6]

Some minerals contain both aluminium and carbonate. Dawsonite has the formula NaAlCO3(OH)2. Hydrotalcites, both synthetic and natural, are layered metal hydroxides comprised in part of aluminium and carbonate.[7]

Surface carbonate species readily form upon exposure of aluminium oxide to .[8]

References

  1. ^ Anthony John Downs, (1993), Chemistry of Aluminium, Gallium, Indium, and Thallium, Springer, ISBN 978-0-7514-0103-5
  2. ^ "Scarbroite". www.mindat.org
  3. ^ "Hydroscarbroite". www.mindat.org
  4. ^ "Dawsonite". www.mindat.org. Retrieved 2020-12-14.
  5. ^ Moody, Bernard (2013). Comparative Inorganic Chemistry. Elsevier. p. 311. ISBN 9781483280080.
  6. ^ Bayarjargal, Lkhamsuren; Spahr, Dominik; Milman, Victor; Marquardt, Julien; Giordano, Nico; Winkler, Björn (28 August 2023). "Anhydrous Aluminum Carbonates and Isostructural Compounds". Inorganic Chemistry. 62 (34): 13910–13918. doi:10.1021/acs.inorgchem.3c01832. PMID 37579301. S2CID 260898136
  7. ^ Costantino, Umberto; Marmottini, Fabio; Nocchetti, Morena; Vivani, Riccardo (1998). "New Synthetic Routes to Hydrotalcite-Like Compounds − Characterisation and Properties of the Obtained Materials". European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry. 1998 (10): 1439–1446. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1099-0682(199810)1998:10<1439::AID-EJIC1439>3.0.CO;2-1
  8. ^ Parkyns, N. D. (1969-01-01). "The surface properties of metal oxides. Part II. An infrared study of the adsorption of carbon dioxide on γ-alumina". Journal of the Chemical Society A: Inorganic, Physical, Theoretical. doi:10.1039/J19690000410. ISSN 0022-4944