Aluminium sulfacetate is a mixture of

aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It ha ...

salts dissolved in water with formula .

Uses

It is an evenly balanced mixture of

aluminium sulfate Aluminium sulfate is a salt with the formula Al2 (SO4)3. It is soluble in water and is mainly used as a coagulating agent (promoting particle collision by neutralizing charge) in the purification of drinking water and wastewater treatment plan ...

and

aluminium acetate Aluminium acetate or aluminium ethanoate (also "aluminum ~"), sometimes abbreviated AlAc in geochemistry, can refer to a number of different salts of aluminum with acetic acid. In the solid state, three salts exist under this name: basic aluminium ...

. It can be used as a

mordant A mordant or dye fixative is a substance used to set (i.e. bind) dyes on fabrics by forming a coordination complex with the dye, which then attaches to the fabric (or tissue). It may be used for dyeing fabrics or for intensifying stains in ...

, which is a substance used to set

dye A dye is a colored substance that chemically bonds to the substrate to which it is being applied. This distinguishes dyes from pigments which do not chemically bind to the material they color. Dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution and ...

s on fabrics that typically contains a polyvalent metal ion like aluminium or iron, In mixtures with basic aluminium diacetate or aluminium sulfacetate, aluminium triacetate has been used as a mordant with

alizarin Alizarin (also known as 1,2-dihydroxyanthraquinone, Mordant Red 11, C.I. 58000, and Turkey Red) is an organic compound with formula that has been used throughout history as a prominent red dye, principally for dyeing textile fabrics. Historic ...

dye. In 1899, Albert Ganswindt recommended that the use of impure sulfacetates that are empyreumatic liquids "should be abandoned" in favour of pure preparations. Empyreuma is an obsolete chemical and medical term referring to "the smell and taste associated with burning vegetable and animal matter", and likely results in this case from the use of

pyroligneous acid Pyroligneous acid, also called wood vinegar or wood acid, is a dark liquid produced by the destructive distillation of wood and other plant material Composition The principal components of pyroligneous acid are 10% acetic acid, acetone and metha ...

(wood acid) or wood acid lime in the preparation of the mordant.

Preparation

A common approach to preparing aluminium sulfacetate is by reaction of aluminium sulfate with

lead(II) acetate Lead(II) acetate (Pb(CH3COO)2), also known as lead acetate, lead diacetate, plumbous acetate, sugar of lead, lead sugar, salt of Saturn, or Goulard's powder, is a white crystalline chemical compound with a slightly sweet taste. Like many other l ...

. The relative amount of each reagent controls the composition of the resulting mixture. When the

stoichiometric ratio Stoichiometry refers to the relationship between the quantities of reactants and products before, during, and following chemical reactions. Stoichiometry is founded on the law of conservation of mass where the total mass of the reactants equa ...

of lead acetate to aluminium sulfate exceeds 3:1, the process is theoretically driven to completion and aluminium triacetate is the sole product. With less lead acetate, a mixture of aluminium triacetate and aluminium sulfacetate results that becomes increasingly rich in the latter as the reagent

mole Mole (or Molé) may refer to: Animals * Mole (animal) or "true mole", mammals in the family Talpidae, found in Eurasia and North America * Golden moles, southern African mammals in the family Chrysochloridae, similar to but unrelated to Talpida ...

ratio approaches 2:1. This approach is used to form various mixtures for mordant applications: : + 3 → 2 + 3 Basic aluminium sulfacetates can also be prepared, , with

hydroxide Hydroxide is a diatomic anion with chemical formula OH−. It consists of an oxygen and hydrogen atom held together by a single covalent bond, and carries a negative electric charge. It is an important but usually minor constituent of water. ...

anions replacing some

acetate An acetate is a salt formed by the combination of acetic acid with a base (e.g. alkaline, earthy, metallic, nonmetallic or radical base). "Acetate" also describes the conjugate base or ion (specifically, the negatively charged ion called ...

ions. The extreme cases are aluminium sulfacetate itself (''n'' = 0) and the double salt of aluminium sulfate and

aluminium hydroxide Aluminium hydroxide, Al(OH)3, is found in nature as the mineral gibbsite (also known as hydrargillite) and its three much rarer polymorphs: bayerite, doyleite, and nordstrandite. Aluminium hydroxide is amphoteric, i.e., it has both basic ...

(''n'' = 4 case, ). Aluminium sulfacetate is made from the

hydrate In chemistry, a hydrate is a substance that contains water or its constituent elements. The chemical state of the water varies widely between different classes of hydrates, some of which were so labeled before their chemical structure was understo ...

s of aluminium sulfate and lead acetate: : + 2 → + 2 + 24 The ''n'' = 1 and ''n'' = 2 cases, both of which are basic aluminium sulfacetates, are prepared using

sodium bicarbonate 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− ...

along with the regents: :2 + 3 + 2 → + 3 + + 2 + 45 : + + 2 → + + + 2 + 21 The ''n'' = 3 case, also a basic aluminium sulfacetate, is prepared using

acetic acid Acetic acid , systematically named ethanoic acid , is an acidic, colourless liquid and organic compound with the chemical formula (also written as , , or ). Vinegar is at least 4% acetic acid by volume, making acetic acid the main componen ...

instead of lead acetate, along with sodium bicarbonate: : + + 4 → + 2 + + 19

References

{{Sulfates Acetates Aluminium compounds Sulfates