Vanadium(III) sulfate is the
inorganic compound
In chemistry, an inorganic compound is typically a chemical compound that lacks carbon–hydrogen bonds, that is, a compound that is not an organic compound. The study of inorganic compounds is a subfield of chemistry known as '' inorganic chemist ...
with the formula V
2(SO
4)
3. It is a pale yellow solid that is stable to air, in contrast to most vanadium(III) compounds. It slowly dissolves in water to give the green
aquo complex
In chemistry, metal aquo complexes are coordination compounds containing metal ions with only water as a ligand. These complexes are the predominant species in aqueous solutions of many metal salts, such as metal nitrates, sulfates, and perchlorat ...
(H2O)6sup>3+.
The compound is prepared by treating V
2O
5 in
sulfuric acid
Sulfuric acid (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid ( Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen and hydrogen, with the molecular formu ...
with elemental
sulfur
Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...
:
[Robert T. Claunch, Mark M. Jones "Vanadium(III) Sulfate" Inorganic Syntheses, 1963, Volume 7, pages 92–94. ]
:V
2O
5 + S + 3 H
2SO
4 → V
2(SO
4)
3 + SO
2 + 3 H
2O
This transformation is a rare example of a reduction by elemental sulfur.
When heated in vacuum at or slightly below 410 °C, it decomposes into
vanadyl sulfate (VOSO
4) and SO
2. Vanadium(III) sulfate is stable in dry air but upon exposure to moist air for several weeks forms a green hydrate form.
Vanadium(III) sulfate is a
reducing agent
In chemistry, a reducing agent (also known as a reductant, reducer, or electron donor) is a chemical species that "donates" an electron to an (called the , , , or ).
Examples of substances that are commonly reducing agents include the Earth meta ...
.
References
Vanadium(III) compounds
Sulfates
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