The key difference between copper carbonate and basic copper carbonate is that copper carbonate is a neutral chemical compound, whereas basic copper carbonate is an alkaline chemical compound.
Copper carbonate and basic copper carbonate are important ionic compounds. Copper carbonate is an inorganic chemical compound having the chemical formula CuCO3, while basic copper carbonate is an inorganic compound having the chemical formula Cu2(OH)2CO3.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Copper Carbonate
3. What is Basic Copper Carbonate
4. Copper Carbonate vs Basic Copper Carbonate in Tabular Form
5. Summary – Copper Carbonate vs Basic Copper Carbonate
What is Copper Carbonate?
Copper carbonate is an inorganic chemical compound having the chemical formula CuCO3. It is also known as cupric carbonate, and this compound occurs as an ionic salt that contains copper ions in a +2 oxidation state and carbonate anions. Copper carbonate readily reacts with water or moisture in the air.
Mixing solutions of copper sulfate and sodium carbonate at ambient conditions can give copper carbonate, but since there is a high affinity of copper ions to the hydroxide ions, this reaction mainly gives the basic copper carbonate compound. Therefore, it is difficult to make this compound; however, this reaction was first performed by Hartmut Ehrhardt and some other scientists in 1973. In this preparation method, heating of basic copper carbonate in an atmosphere containing carbon dioxide gave copper carbonate as a grey powder. This compound had a monoclinic structure.
Figure 01: The Unit Cell of Copper Carbonate Compound
Furthermore, copper carbonate shows stability that depends critically on the partial pressure of carbon dioxide. This compound can be stable for several months if there is dry air. However, the decomposition can occur slowly by converting copper carbonate into copper oxide and carbon dioxide.
In the crystal structure of the copper carbonate compound, copper ion adopts a distorted square-pyramidal coordination environment displaying coordination number 5. In other words, each carbonate anion is bonded to 5 copper cations.
What is Basic Copper Carbonate?
Basic copper carbonate is an inorganic compound having the chemical formula Cu2(OH)2CO3. The chemical name of this compound is copper(II) carbonate hydroxide, and it is an alkaline compound. This compound exists as a green colour crystalline solid substance in nature. Basic copper carbonate occurs as the malachite mineral compound. Due to its colour, this compound is important mainly as a pigment for colour formation.
Figure 02: Basic Copper Carbonate Powder
We can produce basic copper carbonate from the combination of aqueous solutions of copper sulfate with sodium carbonate at ambient conditions. In this reaction, the basic copper carbonate precipitate from the reaction mixture, releasing carbon dioxide as a byproduct. Moreover, we can prepare the same compound from the reaction between copper sulfate and sodium bicarbonate.
The major application of basic copper carbonate is using it as a pigment for colours due to its green colour appearance. The names for this pigment include verditer, green bice, and mountain green.
Difference Between Copper Carbonate and Basic Copper Carbonate
Copper carbonate and basic copper carbonate are important ionic compounds. The key difference between copper carbonate and basic copper carbonate is that copper carbonate is a neutral chemical compound, whereas basic copper carbonate is an alkaline chemical compound. Moreover, copper carbonate is a grey powder, whereas basic copper carbonate is a blue-green powder. In addition, copper carbonate is made of copper ions and carbonate anions, while basic copper carbonate is made of copper ions, hydroxide ions, and carbonate ions.
The below infographic lists the differences between copper carbonate and basic copper carbonate in tabular form for side by side comparison.
Summary – Copper Carbonate vs Basic Copper Carbonate
Copper carbonate is an inorganic chemical compound having the chemical formula CuCO3. Basic copper carbonate is an inorganic compound having the chemical formula Cu2(OH)2CO3. The key difference between copper carbonate and basic copper carbonate is that copper carbonate is a neutral chemical compound, whereas basic copper carbonate is an alkaline chemical compound.
Reference:
1. “Copper Carbonate.” American Elements, 13 June 2017.
Image Courtesy:
1. “Copper(II)-carbonate-unit-cell-3D-bs-N17-M25” By Ben Mills – Own work (Public Domain) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Copper carbonate basic” By W. Oelen – (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia
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