IChO 1980 · Theory problem 3

Chemistry of ions, stoichiometry, redox reactions: identification of a white crystalline compound A

(Chemistry of ions, stoichiometry, redox reactions)

A white crystalline solid compound A exhibits the following reactions:

1) The flame of a Bunsen burner is intensively yellow coloured.

2) An aqueous solution of A is neutral. Dropwise addition of sulphurous acid (an \(\ce{SO2}\) solution) leads to a deep brown solution that is discoloured in the presence of excess of sulphurous acid.

3) If an \(\ce{AgNO3}\) solution is added to the discoloured solution obtained by 2) and acidified with \(\ce{HNO3}\), a yellow precipitate is obtained that is insoluble on addition of \(\ce{NH3}\), but can be readily dissolved by adding \(\ce{CN^-}\) or \(\ce{S2O3^2-}\).

4) If an aqueous solution of A is treated with \(\ce{KI}\) and dilute \(\ce{H2SO4}\) a deep brown solution is formed that can be discoloured by addition of sulphurous acid or a \(\ce{Na2S2O3}\) solution.

5) An amount of 0.1000 g of A is dissolved in water, then 0.5 g \(\ce{KI}\) and a few \(\mathrm{cm^3}\) of dilute \(\ce{H2SO4}\) are added. The deep brown solution formed is titrated with 0.1000 M \(\ce{Na2S2O3}\) solution until the solution is completely discoloured. The consumption is 37.40 \(\mathrm{cm^3}\).

Problems:

3.1 What elements are contained in the compound A?

3.2 What compounds can be considered as present on the basis of reactions 1) to 4)? Calculate their molar masses.

3.3 Formulate the reactions corresponding to 2) to 4) for the compounds considered and write the corresponding equations in the ionic form.

3.4 Decide on the basis of 5) which compound is present.

Official English text of the problem.

Answers

  • 3.1: Sodium, iodine and oxygen.
  • 3.2: Sodium iodate, \(\ce{NaIO3}\), [Na+].[O-]I(=O)=O, with \(M=197.9\ \mathrm{g\,mol^{-1}}\); and sodium metaperiodate, \(\ce{NaIO4}\), [Na+].[O-]I(=O)(=O)=O, with \(M=213.9\ \mathrm{g\,mol^{-1}}\).
  • 3.3: The brown product is iodine, \(\ce{I2}\), II, which is subsequently reduced to iodide, \(\ce{I^-}\), [I-]. The yellow precipitate is silver iodide, \(\ce{AgI}\), [Ag+].[I-], which dissolves through cyanide or thiosulfate complex formation. Acidified iodate and periodate produce respectively three and four iodine equivalents per formula unit. All balanced ionic equations are given below.
  • 3.4: A is sodium metaperiodate, \(\ce{NaIO4}\). Its eight-to-one thiosulfate stoichiometry gives an experimental molar mass of \(213.9\ \mathrm{g\,mol^{-1}}\).

Solution

3.1 — Elements present

The intense yellow flame identifies the sodium ion, \(\ce{Na+}\), [Na+].

The yellow silver precipitate, insoluble in ammonia but soluble in cyanide and thiosulfate, identifies silver iodide. Consequently, the colourless solution obtained after reduction contains iodide, and A contains iodine.

Sulphurous acid reduces the iodine-containing anion of A to brown iodine and subsequently to iodide. Conversely, A oxidizes added iodide to iodine. These observations identify an oxidizing iodine oxyanion, containing oxygen.

Thus the elements are sodium, iodine and oxygen.

3.2 — Possible compounds and their molar masses

The usual stable sodium iodine oxysalts consistent with these observations are:

Compound Anion Oxidation state of iodine
Sodium iodate, \(\ce{NaIO3}\) Iodate, \(\ce{IO3^-}\) \(+5\)
Sodium metaperiodate, \(\ce{NaIO4}\) Metaperiodate, \(\ce{IO4^-}\) \(+7\)

An iodide salt would not explain either the formation of iodine upon adding a reducing agent or the oxidation of added iodide.

No atomic masses are printed in the problem. Using the standard values \[ A_{\mathrm r}(\ce{Na})=22.99,\qquad A_{\mathrm r}(\ce{I})=126.90,\qquad A_{\mathrm r}(\ce{O})=16.00, \] gives \[ M(\ce{NaIO3}) =22.99+126.90+3(16.00) =197.89\ \mathrm{g\,mol^{-1}}, \] \[ M(\ce{NaIO4}) =22.99+126.90+4(16.00) =213.89\ \mathrm{g\,mol^{-1}}. \]

The salt SMILES in the answers describe their constituent ions, not their crystal lattices. Iodate is trigonal pyramidal; metaperiodate is tetrahedral. These geometries are not encoded by the SMILES.

3.3 — Balanced ionic equations

Sulphurous acid is written below as aqueous \(\ce{SO2}\), as specified in the problem. Names and SMILES for the additional species are collected after the equations.

Reaction 2): reduction with sulphurous acid

With a limited quantity of sulphurous acid, iodine is formed. Sulfur is oxidized from \(+4\) to \(+6\).

For iodate: \[ \boxed{\ce{2IO3^- + 5SO2 + 4H2O -> I2 + 5SO4^2- + 8H+}} \]

For periodate: \[ \boxed{\ce{2IO4^- + 7SO2 + 6H2O -> I2 + 7SO4^2- + 12H+}} \]

Excess sulphurous acid reduces the iodine to colourless iodide: \[ \boxed{\ce{I2 + SO2 + 2H2O -> 2I^- + SO4^2- + 4H+}} \]

Thus the overall reactions with excess sulphurous acid are \[ \ce{IO3^- + 3SO2 + 3H2O -> I^- + 3SO4^2- + 6H+}, \] \[ \ce{IO4^- + 4SO2 + 4H2O -> I^- + 4SO4^2- + 8H+}. \]

Reaction 3): precipitation and complex formation

Both candidates give iodide after complete reduction, so both give the same silver iodide precipitate: \[ \boxed{\ce{Ag+ + I^- -> AgI(s)}} \]

Ammonia does not produce appreciable dissolution under the stated test conditions.

Cyanide dissolves the precipitate by forming dicyanidoargentate(I): \[ \boxed{\ce{AgI(s) + 2CN^- -> [Ag(CN)2]^- + I^-}} \]

Thiosulfate dissolves it by forming bis(thiosulfato)argentate(I): \[ \boxed{\ce{AgI(s) + 2S2O3^2- -> [Ag(S2O3)2]^3- + I^-}} \]

Reaction 4): oxidation of iodide in acidic solution

For iodate: \[ \boxed{\ce{IO3^- + 5I^- + 6H+ -> 3I2 + 3H2O}} \]

For periodate: \[ \boxed{\ce{IO4^- + 7I^- + 8H+ -> 4I2 + 4H2O}} \]

Where iodide is present, iodine also forms brown triiodide: \[ \ce{I2 + I^- <=> I3^-}. \]

Decolourization by sulphurous acid follows the iodine-reduction equation already given under reaction 2).

With thiosulfate, iodine is reduced to iodide while thiosulfate is oxidized to tetrathionate: \[ \boxed{\ce{I2 + 2S2O3^2- -> 2I^- + S4O6^2-}} \]

Equivalently, for triiodide: \[ \ce{I3^- + 2S2O3^2- -> 3I^- + S4O6^2-}. \]

The additional molecular and ionic species used above have the following names and SMILES:

Species Name SMILES
\(\ce{IO3^-}\) Iodate [O-]I(=O)=O
\(\ce{IO4^-}\) Metaperiodate [O-]I(=O)(=O)=O
\(\ce{SO2}\) Sulfur dioxide O=S=O
\(\ce{H2O}\) Water O
\(\ce{H+}\) Hydrogen ion, the aqueous proton shorthand [H+]
\(\ce{SO4^2-}\) Sulfate [O-]S(=O)(=O)[O-]
\(\ce{Ag+}\) Silver(I) ion [Ag+]
\(\ce{NH3}\) Ammonia N
\(\ce{CN^-}\) Cyanide [C-]#N
\(\ce{S2O3^2-}\) Thiosulfate [O-]S(=O)(=O)[S-]
\(\ce{I3^-}\) Triiodide I[I-]I
\(\ce{S4O6^2-}\) Tetrathionate [O-]S(=O)(=O)SSS(=O)(=O)[O-]
\(\ce{[Ag(CN)2]^-}\) Dicyanidoargentate(I) [C-](#N)->[Ag+]<-[C-]#N
\(\ce{[Ag(S2O3)2]^3-}\) Bis(thiosulfato)argentate(I) [O-]S(=O)(=O)[S-]->[Ag+]<-[S-]S(=O)(=O)[O-]

The complex SMILES use dative-bond notation: cyanide coordinates through carbon, and thiosulfate through its terminal sulfur. Their simple two-coordinate representations have approximately linear donor–silver–donor arrangements. Triiodide is also linear; its delocalized bonding is not fully represented by the SMILES.

3.4 — Identification from the titration

The amount of thiosulfate consumed is \[ \begin{aligned} n(\ce{S2O3^2-}) &=cV\\ &=(0.1000\ \mathrm{mol\,L^{-1}}) (37.40\times10^{-3}\ \mathrm L)\\ &=3.740\times10^{-3}\ \mathrm{mol}. \end{aligned} \]

Since one mole of iodine consumes two moles of thiosulfate, the total iodine equivalent titrated is \[ n(\ce{I2}) =\frac{3.740\times10^{-3}}{2} =1.870\times10^{-3}\ \mathrm{mol}. \]

The equations in 3.3 give the following relationships:

Candidate Iodine equivalents per mole Thiosulfate consumed per mole
\(\ce{NaIO3}\) \(3\) \(6\)
\(\ce{NaIO4}\) \(4\) \(8\)

For a \(0.1000\ \mathrm g\) sample, the predicted titre is \[ V=\frac{r\,m}{Mc}, \] where \(r\) is the thiosulfate-to-compound mole ratio.

Thus \[ V_{\ce{NaIO3}} =\frac{6(0.1000)} {197.89(0.1000)} =0.03032\ \mathrm L =30.32\ \mathrm{cm^3}, \] whereas \[ V_{\ce{NaIO4}} =\frac{8(0.1000)} {213.89(0.1000)} =0.03740\ \mathrm L =37.40\ \mathrm{cm^3}. \]

Only periodate matches the measured titre. Equivalently, \[ n(A)=\frac{3.740\times10^{-3}}{8} =4.675\times10^{-4}\ \mathrm{mol}, \] and \[ M(A)= \frac{0.1000\ \mathrm g} {4.675\times10^{-4}\ \mathrm{mol}} =213.9\ \mathrm{g\,mol^{-1}}. \]

Iodide is regenerated during titration. Combining iodine liberation and its reduction by thiosulfate gives \[ \ce{IO4^- + 8S2O3^2- + 8H+ -> I^- + 4S4O6^2- + 4H2O}. \] Consequently, the eight-to-one ratio remains valid when iodine continues to form during titration.

\[ \boxed{A=\ce{NaIO4}\quad\text{(sodium metaperiodate)}} \]

The solution was checked against the official solution.