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Copper(I) hydroxide

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Copper(I) hydroxide is the hydroxide of the metal copper with the chemical formula of CuOH. It is a mild, highly unstable alkali. The color of pure CuOH is yellow or orange-yellow, but it usually appears rather dark red because of the impurity substances. It is extremely easy to be oxidated even at room temperature.

Contents

Preparation

Copper(I) hydroxide can be prepared according to the following reaction:

32 S 2 O 3 2 − + 32 C u 2 + + 16 H 2 O → C H 3 C H 2 O H 32 C u O H ↓ + 3 S 8 + 8 S 4 O 6 2 − + 8 S O 4 2 −

In this reaction, ethanol serves as a catalyst. It can also be a solvent for the byproduct sulfur and thus get rid of it.

Another method is by the double decomposition of CuCl and NaOH：

C u C l + N a O H = = = = N a C l + C u O H ↓

Notably, this method is rarely used because the CuOH produced will gradually dehydrate and eventually turn into Cu2O.

Reactions

Similar to iron(II) hydroxide , copper(I) hydroxide can be easily oxidated into copper(II) hydroxide:

4 C u O H + 2 H 2 O + O 2 = = = = 4 C u ( O H ) 2

References

Copper(I) hydroxide Wikipedia
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