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Potassium chloride (KCl, or potassium salt) is a metal halide salt composed of potassium and chlorine. It is odorless and has a white or colorless vitreous crystal appearance. The solid dissolves readily in water, and its solutions have a salt-like taste. Potassium chloride can be obtained from ancient dried lake deposits. [7]
With further heating, potassium perchlorate decomposes to potassium chloride and oxygen: KClO 4 → KCl + 2 O 2. The safe performance of this reaction requires very pure reagents and careful temperature control. Molten potassium chlorate is an extremely powerful oxidizer and spontaneously reacts with many common materials such as sugar.
For example, in a solution of ordinary table salt (sodium chloride, NaCl) in water, the cathode reaction will be 2 H 2 O + 2e − → 2 OH − + H 2. and hydrogen gas will bubble up; the anode reaction is 2 NaCl → 2 Na + + Cl 2 + 2e −
Part of the digestion mechanism involves an enzyme-mediated respiratory burst, which produces reactive oxygen-derived compounds, including superoxide (which is produced by NADPH oxidase). Superoxide decays to oxygen and hydrogen peroxide, which is used in a myeloperoxidase-catalysed reaction to convert chloride to hypochlorite. [13] [14] [15]
Potassium perchlorate in crystal form. Potassium perchlorate is prepared industrially by treating an aqueous solution of sodium perchlorate with potassium chloride.This single precipitation reaction exploits the low solubility of KClO 4, which is about 1/100 as much as the solubility of NaClO 4 (209.6 g/100 mL at 25 °C).
Potassium dichromate is an oxidising agent in organic chemistry, and is milder than potassium permanganate. It is used to oxidize alcohols. It converts primary alcohols into aldehydes and, under more forcing conditions, into carboxylic acids. In contrast, potassium permanganate tends to give carboxylic acids as the sole products.
Potassium reacts with oxygen, water, and carbon dioxide components in air. With oxygen it forms potassium peroxide. With water potassium forms potassium hydroxide (KOH). The reaction of potassium with water can be violently exothermic, especially since the coproduced hydrogen gas can ignite.
Potassium hypochlorite is produced by the disproportionation reaction of chlorine with a solution of potassium hydroxide: [2] Cl 2 + 2 KOH → KCl + KOCl + H 2 O. This is the traditional method, first used by Claude Louis Berthollet in 1789. [3] Another production method is electrolysis of potassium chloride solution.