Ammonium carbonate

Ammonium carbonate
Names
	IUPAC name Ammonium carbonate
	Other names baker's ammonia; sal volatile; salt of hartshorn; E503;
Identifiers
CAS Number	506-87-6 ; 16799-91-0 (monohydrate) ;
3D model (JSmol)	Interactive image ; Interactive image ;
ChEBI	CHEBI:229630 ;
ChemSpider	10048 ;
ECHA InfoCard	100.007.326
EC Number	233-786-0;
E number	E503(i) (acidity regulators, ...)
IUPHAR/BPS	4509 ;
PubChem CID	517111 ;
UNII	PDP691CN28 ;
UN number	3077
CompTox Dashboard (EPA)	DTXSID5047457 ;
	InChI InChI=1S/CH2O3.2H3N/c2-1(3)4;;/h(H2,2,3,4);21H3 Key: PRKQVKDSMLBJBJ-UHFFFAOYSA-N ; InChI=1/CH2O3.2H3N/c2-1(3)4;;/h(H2,2,3,4);21H3 Key: PRKQVKDSMLBJBJ-UHFFFAOYAQ;
	SMILES O=C(O)O.N.N; [NH4+].[NH4+].[O-]C(=O)[O-];
Properties
Chemical formula	(NH4)2CO3
Molar mass	96.09 g/mol
Appearance	White powder
Density	1.50 g/cm3
Melting point	58 °C (136 °F; 331 K) (decomposes)
Solubility in water	100 g/100 ml (15°C); 25 g/100 ml (20°C)
Magnetic susceptibility (χ)	-42.50·10−6 cm3/mol
Hazards
	Occupational safety and health (OHS/OSH):
Main hazards	Irritant
	GHS labelling:
Pictograms
Signal word	Warning
Hazard statements	H302, H319
Safety data sheet (SDS)	External MSDS
Related compounds
Other anions	Ammonium bicarbonate ; Ammonium carbamate
Other cations	Sodium carbonate ; Potassium carbonate
	Except where otherwise noted, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C [77 °F], 100 kPa). verify (what is ?) Infobox references

Last updated March 22, 2024

Ammonium carbonate is a salt with the chemical formula (NH₄)₂CO₃. Since it readily degrades to gaseous ammonia and carbon dioxide upon heating, it is used as a leavening agent and also as smelling salt. It is also known as baker's ammonia and is a predecessor to the more modern leavening agents baking soda and baking powder. It is a component of what was formerly known as sal volatile and salt of hartshorn ,^[2] and produces a pungent smell when baked. It comes in the form of a white powder or block, with a molar mass of 96.09 g/mol and a density of 1.50 g/cm3. It is a strong electrolyte.

Production

Ammonium carbonate is produced by combining carbon dioxide and aqueous ammonia. About 80,000 tons/year were produced as of 1997.

{\ce {2NH3 + H2O + CO2 -> (NH4)2CO3}}

^[2]

An orthorhombic monohydrate is known. It crystallizes in an ammonia solution exposed in a carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere.^[3]

Decomposition

Ammonium carbonate slowly decomposes at standard temperature and pressure through two pathways. Thus any initially pure sample of ammonium carbonate will soon become a mixture including various byproducts.

Ammonium carbonate can spontaneously decompose into ammonium bicarbonate and ammonia:

{\ce {(NH4)2CO3 -> NH4HCO3 + NH3 ^}}

Which further decomposes to carbon dioxide, water and another molecule of ammonia:

{\ce {NH4HCO3 -> H2O + CO2 + NH3 ^}}

Uses

Leavening agent

Ammonium carbonate may be used as a leavening agent in traditional recipes, particularly those from northern Europe and Scandinavia (e.g. Amerikaner, Speculoos, Tunnbröd or Lebkuchen). It was the precursor to today's more commonly used baking powder.

Originally made from ground deer horn and called hartshorn, today it is called baker's ammonia. It is prepared by the sublimation of a mixture of ammonium sulfate and calcium carbonate and occurs as a white powder or a hard, white or translucent mass.^[4] It acts as a heat activated leavening agent and breaks down into carbon dioxide (leavening), ammonia (which needs to dissipate) and water. It is sometimes combined with sodium bicarbonate to mimic as a double acting baking powder and to help mask any ammonia smell not baked out.

It also serves as an acidity regulator and has the E number E503. It can be replaced with baking powder, but this may affect both the taste and texture of the finished product. Baker's ammonia should be used to create thin dry baked goods like crackers and cookies. This allows the strong ammonia smell to bake out. It should not be used to make moist baked items like cake since ammonia is hydrophilic and will leave a strong bitter taste.

Its use as a leavening agent, with associated controversy, goes back centuries:

In the third kind of bread, a vesicular appearance is given to it by the addition to the dough of some ammoniacal salt, (usually the sub-carbonate,) which becomes wholly converted into a gaseous substance during the process of baking, causing the dough to swell out into little air vessels, which finally bursting, allow the gas to escape, and leave the bread exceedingly porous. Mr. Accum, in his Treatise on Culinary Poisons, has stigmatized this process as "fraudulent," but, in our opinion, most unjustly. The bakers would never adopt it but from necessity: when good yeast cannot be procured, it forms an admirable and perfectly harmless substitute; costing the baker more, it diminishes his profit, while the consumer is benefited by the bread retaining the solid matter, which by the process of fermentation is dissipated in the form of alcohol and carbonic acid gas.^[5]

Other uses

Ammonium carbonate is the main component of smelling salts, although the commercial scale of their production is small. Buckley's cough syrup from Canada today uses ammonium carbonate as an active ingredient intended to help relieve symptoms of bronchitis. It is also used as an emetic. It is also found in smokeless tobacco products, such as Skoal, and it is used in aqueous solution as a photographic lens cleaning agent, such as Eastman Kodak's "Kodak Lens Cleaner."

It is also used for luring of apple maggots in Washington State, to monitor the spread of the infestation and adjust the borders of the Apple Maggot Quarantine Area.^[6]

Related Research Articles

In chemistry, an acid–base reaction is a chemical reaction that occurs between an acid and a base. It can be used to determine pH via titration. Several theoretical frameworks provide alternative conceptions of the reaction mechanisms and their application in solving related problems; these are called the acid–base theories, for example, Brønsted–Lowry acid–base theory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bicarbonate</span> Polyatomic anion

In inorganic chemistry, bicarbonate is an intermediate form in the deprotonation of carbonic acid. It is a polyatomic anion with the chemical formula HCO⁻
₃.

In chemistry, there are three definitions in common use of the word "base": Arrhenius bases, Brønsted bases, and Lewis bases. All definitions agree that bases are substances that react with acids, as originally proposed by G.-F. Rouelle in the mid-18th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sodium bicarbonate</span> Chemical compound

Sodium bicarbonate (IUPAC name: sodium hydrogencarbonate), commonly known as baking soda or bicarbonate of soda, is a chemical compound with the formula NaHCO₃. It is a salt composed of a sodium cation (Na⁺) and a bicarbonate anion (HCO₃⁻). Sodium bicarbonate is a white solid that is crystalline, but often appears as a fine powder. It has a slightly salty, alkaline taste resembling that of washing soda (sodium carbonate). The natural mineral form is nahcolite. It is a component of the mineral natron and is found dissolved in many mineral springs.

Sodium carbonate is the inorganic compound with the formula Na₂CO₃ and its various hydrates. All forms are white, odourless, water-soluble salts that yield alkaline solutions in water. Historically, it was extracted from the ashes of plants grown in sodium-rich soils, and because the ashes of these sodium-rich plants were noticeably different from ashes of wood, sodium carbonate became known as "soda ash". It is produced in large quantities from sodium chloride and limestone by the Solvay process, as well as by carbonating sodium hydroxide which is made using the Chlor-alkali process.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baking powder</span> Dry chemical leavening agent

Baking powder is a dry chemical leavening agent, a mixture of a carbonate or bicarbonate and a weak acid. The base and acid are prevented from reacting prematurely by the inclusion of a buffer such as cornstarch. Baking powder is used to increase the volume and lighten the texture of baked goods. It works by releasing carbon dioxide gas into a batter or dough through an acid–base reaction, causing bubbles in the wet mixture to expand and thus leavening the mixture. The first single-acting baking powder was developed by food manufacturer Alfred Bird in England in 1843. The first double-acting baking powder, which releases some carbon dioxide when dampened and later releases more of the gas when heated by baking, was developed by Eben Norton Horsford in the U.S. in the 1860s.

In cooking, a leavening agent or raising agent, also called a leaven or leavener, is any one of a number of substances used in doughs and batters that cause a foaming action that lightens and softens the mixture. An alternative or supplement to leavening agents is mechanical action by which air is incorporated. Leavening agents can be biological or synthetic chemical compounds. The gas produced is often carbon dioxide, or occasionally hydrogen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Potassium carbonate</span> Chemical compound

Potassium carbonate is the inorganic compound with the formula K₂CO₃. It is a white salt, which is soluble in water and forms a strongly alkaline solution. It is deliquescent, often appearing as a damp or wet solid. Potassium carbonate is mainly used in the production of soap and glass. Commonly, it can be found as the result of leakage of alkaline batteries.

Carbonation is the chemical reaction of carbon dioxide to give carbonates, bicarbonates, and carbonic acid. In chemistry, the term is sometimes used in place of carboxylation, which refers to the formation of carboxylic acids.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salammoniac</span> Halide mineral

Salammoniac, also sal ammoniac or salmiac, is a rare naturally occurring mineral composed of ammonium chloride, NH₄Cl. It forms colorless, white, or yellow-brown crystals in the isometric-hexoctahedral class. It has very poor cleavage and is brittle to conchoidal fracture. It is quite soft, with a Mohs hardness of 1.5 to 2, and it has a low specific gravity of 1.5. It is water-soluble. Sal ammoniac is also the archaic name for the chemical compound ammonium chloride.

Ammonium bicarbonate is an inorganic compound with formula (NH₄)HCO₃. The compound has many names, reflecting its long history. Chemically speaking, it is the bicarbonate salt of the ammonium ion. It is a colourless solid that degrades readily to carbon dioxide, water and ammonia.

Ammonia solution, also known as ammonia water, ammonium hydroxide, ammoniacal liquor, ammonia liquor, aqua ammonia, aqueous ammonia, or (inaccurately) ammonia, is a solution of ammonia in water. It can be denoted by the symbols NH₃(aq). Although the name ammonium hydroxide suggests an alkali with the composition [NH⁺
₄][OH⁻
], it is actually impossible to isolate samples of NH₄OH. The ions NH⁺
₄ and OH⁻ do not account for a significant fraction of the total amount of ammonia except in extremely dilute solutions.

The Solvay process or ammonia-soda process is the major industrial process for the production of sodium carbonate (soda ash, Na₂CO₃). The ammonia-soda process was developed into its modern form by the Belgian chemist Ernest Solvay during the 1860s. The ingredients for this are readily available and inexpensive: salt brine (from inland sources or from the sea) and limestone (from quarries). The worldwide production of soda ash in 2005 was estimated at 42 million tonnes, which is more than six kilograms (13 lb) per year for each person on Earth. Solvay-based chemical plants now produce roughly three-quarters of this supply, with the remaining being mined from natural deposits. This method superseded the Leblanc process.

Hartshorn is the antler of male red deer.

Smelling salts, also known as ammonia inhalants, spirit of hartshorn or sal volatile, are chemical compounds used as stimulants to restore consciousness after fainting.

Ammonium sulfate (American English and international scientific usage; ammonium sulphate in British English); (NH₄)₂SO₄, is an inorganic salt with a number of commercial uses. The most common use is as a soil fertilizer. It contains 21% nitrogen and 24% sulfur.

Acid salts are a class of salts that produce an acidic solution after being dissolved in a solvent. Its formation as a substance has a greater electrical conductivity than that of the pure solvent. An acidic solution formed by acid salt is made during partial neutralization of diprotic or polyprotic acids. A half-neutralization occurs due to the remaining of replaceable hydrogen atoms from the partial dissociation of weak acids that have not been reacted with hydroxide ions to create water molecules.

Monocalcium phosphate is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula Ca(H₂PO₄)₂ ("AMCP" or "CMP-A" for anhydrous monocalcium phosphate). It is commonly found as the monohydrate ("MCP" or "MCP-M"), Ca(H₂PO₄)₂·H₂O. Both salts are colourless solids. They are used mainly as superphosphate fertilizers and are also popular leavening agents.

Ammonium cyanide is an unstable inorganic compound with the formula NH₄CN.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ammonium carbamate</span> Chemical compound

Ammonium carbamate is a chemical compound with the formula [NH₄][H₂NCO₂] consisting of ammonium cation NH+4 and carbamate anion NH₂COO⁻. It is a white solid that is extremely soluble in water, less so in alcohol. Ammonium carbamate can be formed by the reaction of ammonia NH₃ with carbon dioxide CO₂, and will slowly decompose to those gases at ordinary temperatures and pressures. It is an intermediate in the industrial synthesis of urea (NH₂)₂CO, an important fertilizer.

References

↑ John Rumble (June 18, 2018). CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (99th ed.). CRC Press. pp. 4–40. ISBN 978-1138561632.
1 2 Karl-Heinz Zapp (2012). "Ammonium Compounds". Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry. Weinheim: Wiley-VCH. doi:10.1002/14356007.a02_243. ISBN 978-3527306732.
↑ Fortes, A.D.; Wood, I.G.; Alfè, D.; Hernàndez, E.R.; Gutmann, M.J.; Sparkes, H.A. (2014-12-01). "Structure, hydrogen bonding and thermal expansion of ammonium carbonate monohydrate". Acta Crystallographica Section B. 70 (6): 948–962. Bibcode:2014AcCrB..70..948F. doi:10.1107/S205252061402126X. ISSN 2052-5206. PMC 4468514 . PMID 25449618 . Retrieved 2021-08-20.
↑ "CFR - Code of Federal Regulations Title 21". www.accessdata.fda.gov. Retrieved 2018-02-07.
↑ "Bread". The Engineer's and Mechanic's Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. Luke Hebert. 1849. p. 239.
↑ Yee, Wee L.; Nash, Meralee J.; Goughnour, Robert B.; Cha, Dong H.; Linn, Charles E.; Feder, Jeffrey L. (2014). "Ammonium Carbonate is More Attractive Than Apple and Hawthorn Fruit Volatile Lures to Rhagoletis pomonella(Diptera: Tephritidae) in Washington State". Environmental Entomology. 43 (4): 957–968. doi:10.1603/en14038. PMID 24915519. S2CID 31174719.

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[crc-1] John Rumble (June 18, 2018). CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (99th ed.). CRC Press. pp. 4–40. ISBN 978-1138561632.

[Ullmann-2] 1 2 Karl-Heinz Zapp (2012). "Ammonium Compounds". Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry. Weinheim: Wiley-VCH. doi:10.1002/14356007.a02_243. ISBN 978-3527306732.

[3] Fortes, A.D.; Wood, I.G.; Alfè, D.; Hernàndez, E.R.; Gutmann, M.J.; Sparkes, H.A. (2014-12-01). "Structure, hydrogen bonding and thermal expansion of ammonium carbonate monohydrate". Acta Crystallographica Section B. 70 (6): 948–962. Bibcode:2014AcCrB..70..948F. doi:10.1107/S205252061402126X. ISSN 2052-5206. PMC 4468514 . PMID 25449618 . Retrieved 2021-08-20.

[4] "CFR - Code of Federal Regulations Title 21". www.accessdata.fda.gov. Retrieved 2018-02-07.

[5] "Bread". The Engineer's and Mechanic's Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. Luke Hebert. 1849. p. 239.

[apple-maggots-6] Yee, Wee L.; Nash, Meralee J.; Goughnour, Robert B.; Cha, Dong H.; Linn, Charles E.; Feder, Jeffrey L. (2014). "Ammonium Carbonate is More Attractive Than Apple and Hawthorn Fruit Volatile Lures to Rhagoletis pomonella(Diptera: Tephritidae) in Washington State". Environmental Entomology. 43 (4): 957–968. doi:10.1603/en14038. PMID 24915519. S2CID 31174719.

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