Qualitative analysis of acid radicals

Acid Radical Group I

What is meant by qualitative analysis?

It is an area in chemistry that tells you what is present, but not the quantity of the
substance which is present.

Background:

Atoms may gain or lose electrons to become charged ions.

An atom which gains an electron ,becomes a negatively charged anion .e.g. ( Cl-, Br-.)

An atom which loses an electron, becomes a positively charged cation e.g. ( Na+, Zn++, Ca++..)

A cation and an anion will be attracted together resulting in the formation of an ionic
compound e.g. salts ( NaCl, NaNO3 , Na I , Na Br ..)

A salt is composed of positive ions that constitute the basic radical and negative ions that
constitute the acid radical. For example NaCl consists of Na+ ( basic radical ) and Cl - ( acid
radical )

Objective of lab

This lab aims at qualitatively identifying some acid radicals which is present in salts by means
of certain reagents.

The basis upon which identification of acid radicals depends on is :

Acids differ in their degree of stability , some acids are unstable such as HNO 2 , HCO3 , H2SO3
and these acids are not found in your laboratory , others are more stable such as H 2SO4
As a general rule :

Stable acids can replace unstable ones in their salt solutions

Stable acids + Salt of less stable acid Salt of the stable acid + less stable acid

According to their acid stability, Acid radicals are classified into 3 groups

Group I Group II Group III

Unstable acids intermediate acids stable acids

Dil HCl class Conc. H2SO4 class Miscellaneous class

Bicarbonate HCO3 - Chlorides Cl- Sulphates SO42-

Carbonates CO3 2- Bromides Br - Phosphates PO4 3-

Nitrite ( NO2-) Iodide I -

Borates B4O7

Sulphites ( SO3--) Nitrates (NO3- )

Thiosulphate ( S2O3- -)

In group I and II : Gases will evolve in Dry test and in the Wet test, ppt is formed or color
of solution is changed

In group III : it is only wet test . it is a precipitation reactions

Note :

An acid from the second grp can displace an acid from the first grp from its salts. An acid
from the third group can displace an acid from the second or from the first group from its
salts. However, any acids of the first and the second groups cannot affect salts of acids of the
third group.

We start by the dry test then confirm our results by the wet test.

Reactions of Group I ( Dil HCl group):

1. Dry test , Page 54 in manual These reactions are characterized by the

Evolution of gases ( CO2 , SO2 , NO2 )
 CO2 gas is characterized by Effervescences

SO2 gas is a colorless gas so if we add drps of orange potassium dichromate it will

change into green

NO2 gas is characterized by its brown fumes

2. Wet test : Confirmatory test . These reactions are characterized by the

formation of ppt or colored solutions

Reaction with MgSO4 ( to differentiate between carbonates and bicarbonates )

Reactions with AgNO3 ( study the name and color of ppt formed )

Oxidation & Reduction reactions ( KI and KMnO4 ) ( what happened to the color of
solution of nitrite and sulphite upon addition of KI and/or KMnO 4 )

To differentiate between Sulphite ( SO32- ) and thiosulphate ( S2O32- ) we add Ferric

chloride ( FeCl3 ) see reaction page 55