Sciencemadness Discussion Board

an annoying copper complex

_thisnameistaken - 1-9-2022 at 18:45

i have a tetraamine copper sulfate complex im trying to get crystals from, but it seems impossible to precipitate! ive used every last drop of ethanol (which was supposed to help it crash out, but i guess i either have too little or the procedure was wack), cooled it down under careful watch to lower solubility, and done countless vacuum filtrations to get something out, but all has failed. And i cant even try to concentrate it since it would just make copper hydroxide. any suggestions?

Sulaiman - 1-9-2022 at 18:56

GUESS : Anhydrous magnesium sulphate added until some precipitate appears?
Edit: even better... anhydrous copper sulphate... less likely to modify your product.

[Edited on 2-9-2022 by Sulaiman]

Romix - 1-9-2022 at 20:38

Once I concentrated copper ammonia hydroxide complex to very high concertation it was dark black, when I poured the solution out I found a lot of crystals growing at the bottom of the HDPE milk bottle used.

Romix - 1-9-2022 at 20:40

Concentrated it by freezing and pouring out many many times.

[Edited on 2-9-2022 by Romix]

vano - 1-9-2022 at 23:38

I never grow this complex compound crystal, but for soluble amino complexes im using isopropyl alcohol, powder precipitates very easily, after plus few hours in the freezer.

Amos - 2-9-2022 at 09:49

Contrary to a lot of internet pages, you can actually boil or evaporate this complex to concentrate it; you lose some ammonia but not that much. Additionally, acetone and isopropanol are much better at precipitating it. The most important thing for getting a smooth result is using as concentrated solutions of ammonia and copper sulfate as possible. With super dilute ammonia you can maybe use powdered, solid copper sulfate and grind it in a mortar as you add the ammonia, eventually getting it all to dissolve.

_thisnameistaken - 2-9-2022 at 13:17

Quote: Originally posted by Amos  
Contrary to a lot of internet pages, you can actually boil or evaporate this complex to concentrate it; you lose some ammonia but not that much
sadly not, most of the solution turned to hydroxides and oxides and some nasty ammonia vapor started coming out when i did so