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Potassium hydrogenoxalate

Chemical compound, salt of sorrel From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Potassium hydrogenoxalate
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Potassium hydrogenoxalate is a salt with formula KHC2O4 or K+·HO2C-CO2. It is one of the most common salts of the hydrogenoxalate anion, and can be obtained by reacting potassium hydroxide with oxalic acid in 1:1 mole ratio.

Quick Facts Names, Identifiers ...

The salt is also known as: potassium hydrogen oxalate, potassium bioxalate, acid potassium oxalate, or monobasic potassium oxalate. In older literature, it was also called: Salt of sorrel,[1] sorrel salt, sel d'oseille,[2][3] sal acetosella; or, inaccurately, salt of lemon (due to the similar acidic “lemony” taste of the edible common sorrel or garden sorrel)[4]

Potassium hydrogenoxalate occurs in some plants, notably sorrel. It is a commercial product used in photography, marble grinding, and removing ink stains.

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Properties

The anhydrous product is a white, odorless, crystalline solid, hygroscopic and soluble in water (2.5 g/100 g at room temperature). The solutions are basic. Below 50 °C the much less soluble "potassium tetraoxalate" K+[C2HO4]C2H2O4 forms and precipitates out of solution.[5]

The monohydrate KHC2O4·H2O starts losing the water at 100 °C.[6]

The anhydrous salt was found to have remarkable elastic anisotropy, due to its crystal structure that consists of relatively rigid columns of hydrogen-bonded hydrogenoxalate anions, joined into sheets by ionic K–O bonds.[7]

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Toxicity

Potassium hydrogenoxalate is strongly irritating to eyes, mucoses and gastrointestinal tract. It may cause cardiac failure and death.[5]

See also

References

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