IChO 2007 · Theory problem 6

Silicates as the base of the Earth crust

Silica and compounds derived from it, silicates, constitute ca. 90 % of the Earth crust substances. Silica gives rise to a beautiful material – glass. Nobody knows exactly how glass was discovered. There is a well-favored story related to Phoenician sailors who fused occasionally sea sand and soda ash. It is likely that they discovered the secret of “liquid glass” (LGL) – sodium metasilicate (\(\ce{Na2SiO3}\)) soluble in water.

6.1 The solution of LGL was used earlier as office glue. Write down the net ionic equation accounting for the ability of LGL to set in air.

Hydrolysis of LGL in water allows obtaining a colloidal solution of silicic acid.

6.2 Complete the Table in the Answer Sheet. Write down the net ionic equations matching the processes enumerated in the Table. For each process check the “Yes” box if it leads to changes of pH. Otherwise check the “No” box.

The structure of species occurring in aqueous solutions of silicates is rather complex. However, it is possible to distinguish the main building block of all species – orthosilicate tetrahedron (\(\ce{SiO4^4-}\), 1):

Figure 1

For \(\ce{[Si3O9]^{n-}}\) ion found in aqueous solutions of silicates:

6.3 Determine the charge (n).

6.4 Determine the number of oxygen atoms bridging adjacent tetrahedra.

6.5 Depict its structure joining together several tetrahedra (1). Take into account that any adjacent tetrahedron shares one vertex.

Charged monolayers with the composition \(\ce{[Si4O10]^{m-}}\) are found in kaolinite (clay).

6.6 Using the same strategy as in 6.3 - 6.5, depict a fragment of the layered structure joining 16 tetrahedra (1). Note that 10 tetrahedra have shared vertices with 2 neighbours each, and the rest 6 have shared vertices with 3 neighbours each.

Being placed into the LGL solution, salts of transition metals give rise to fancy “trees” tinted relevant to the colour of the salt of the corresponding transition metal. Crystals of \(\ce{CuSO4 . 5H2O}\) produce “trees” of blue colour, whereas those of \(\ce{NiSO4 . 7H2O}\) form green “trees”.

6.7 Determine the pH of 0.1 M aqueous solution of copper sulphate at 25 °C assuming that its hydrolysis occurs in small degree only. Use the value of the first acidity constant of \(\ce{[Cu(H2O)4]^2+}\) \(K_a^{I}=1\times10^{-7}\).

6.8 Write down equation of a reaction between aqueous solutions of \(\ce{CuSO4}\) and sodium metasilicate (LGL). Take into account the pH values of aqueous solutions of the salts.

Official English text of the problem.

Answers

Names and SMILES representations are supplied with the corresponding explanations in the Solution.

  • 6.1 \[ \ce{SiO3^2- + CO2 + H2O -> H2SiO3 v + CO3^2-} \] Here \(\ce{H2SiO3}\) denotes hydrated silica gel.

  • 6.2

Process Net ionic equation Changes pH?
(a) Protonation \(\ce{SiO4^4- + H2O <=> HSiO4^3- + OH-}\) Yes
(b) Hydration \(\ce{SiO4^4- + 2H2O <=> [SiO4(H2O)2]^4-}\) No
(c) Polycondensation \(\ce{2SiO4^4- + H2O <=> Si2O7^6- + 2OH-}\) Yes
  • 6.3 \(n=6\); the ion is \(\ce{[Si3O9]^6-}\).

  • 6.4 Three bridging oxygen atoms.

  • 6.5 A closed ring of three corner-sharing tetrahedra, containing an alternating six-membered \(\ce{Si-O-Si-O-Si-O}\) ring.

  • 6.6 \(m=4\). Draw a patch of four fused hexagonal rings containing 16 tetrahedra, with 19 shared oxygen vertices. Ten tetrahedra have two neighbours and six have three; an exact drawing prescription is given below.

  • 6.7 \[ \boxed{\mathrm{pH}\approx4.0} \]

  • 6.8 \[ \boxed{\ce{CuSO4 + Na2SiO3 + 2H2O -> Cu(OH)2 v + H2SiO3 v + Na2SO4}} \]

Solution

6.1 — Setting of liquid glass in air

Atmospheric carbon dioxide acidifies the alkaline silicate solution. Protonation of silicate produces hydrated silica, which forms a gel and hardens as water is lost:

\[ \ce{SiO3^2- + CO2 + H2O -> H2SiO3 v + CO3^2-} \]

The equation balances both atoms and charge: each side has total charge \(-2\).

The species are carbon dioxide O=C=O, water O, carbonate ion [O-]C(=O)[O-], and metasilicate ion, formally [O-][Si](=O)[O-].

Here metasilicic acid, \(\ce{H2SiO3}\), with formal formula-unit SMILES O=[Si](O)O, is conventional shorthand for hydrated, polymeric silica. The actual gel contains an extended network of \(\ce{Si-O-Si}\) bonds and has no unique molecular SMILES.

6.2 — Protonation, hydration, and polycondensation

(a) Protonation. An orthosilicate oxygen accepts a proton from water, forming a \(\ce{Si-OH}\) group:

\[ \ce{SiO4^4- + H2O <=> HSiO4^3- + OH-} \]

Hydroxide ions are produced, so this process changes pH: Yes, increasing it.

(b) Hydration. Two water molecules coordinate to silicon:

\[ \ce{SiO4^4- + 2H2O <=> [SiO4(H2O)2]^4-} \]

This hydration step neither releases nor consumes protons or hydroxide ions. Thus changes pH: No, for the process as written.

(c) Polycondensation. The simplest condensation product is the disilicate ion, containing one bridging oxygen:

\[ \ce{2SiO4^4- + H2O <=> Si2O7^6- + 2OH-} \]

Consequently, changes pH: Yes, increasing it.

The hydroxide production follows explicitly by combining twice the protonation reaction in (a) with condensation of the resulting silanol groups:

\[ \ce{2HSiO4^3- <=> Si2O7^6- + H2O} \]

Although this last silanol-condensation equation releases only water, the overall process starting from orthosilicate ions releases two hydroxide ions.

The relevant structural representations are:

Species Name SMILES
\(\ce{SiO4^4-}\) Orthosilicate ion [O-][Si]([O-])([O-])[O-]
\(\ce{HSiO4^3-}\) Hydrogen orthosilicate ion O[Si]([O-])([O-])[O-]
\(\ce{[SiO4(H2O)2]^4-}\) Hydrated orthosilicate ion [OH2+][Si-2]([O-])([O-])([O-])([O-])[OH2+]
\(\ce{Si2O7^6-}\) Disilicate, or pyrosilicate, ion [O-][Si]([O-])([O-])O[Si]([O-])([O-])[O-]
\(\ce{OH-}\) Hydroxide ion [OH-]

The hydrate’s SMILES uses single bonds with formal charge separation to represent the two water-to-silicon donor bonds; its total charge is \(-4\). Its six-coordinate silicon has an idealized octahedral environment. The other silicon centres in this table are tetrahedral. These geometries are not encoded by the SMILES.

6.3 — Charge of the trisilicate ion

Silicon has oxidation state \(+4\), and oxygen has oxidation state \(-2\). Therefore,

\[ q=3(+4)+9(-2)=-6. \]

Thus

\[ \boxed{n=6,\qquad \ce{[Si3O9]^6-}}. \]

6.4 — Number of bridging oxygen atoms

Let \(B\) be the number of bridging oxygens and \(T\) the number of nonbridging oxygens.

There are nine distinct oxygen atoms:

\[ B+T=9. \]

Three tetrahedra have \(3\times4=12\) oxygen-vertex incidences. Each bridging oxygen belongs to two tetrahedra, so

\[ 2B+T=12. \]

Subtracting gives

\[ \boxed{B=3},\qquad T=6. \]

6.5 — Structure of the trisilicate ion

There are three tetrahedra and three shared corners. Since each pair of adjacent tetrahedra shares only one corner, the tetrahedra form a closed triangular arrangement.

To draw it:

  1. Place three tetrahedra around a central opening.
  2. Make each tetrahedron share one distinct oxygen vertex with each of the other two.
  3. Leave the other two oxygen vertices of each tetrahedron unshared.

The resulting cyclotrisilicate ion, \(\ce{[Si3O9]^6-}\), has SMILES:

[O-][Si]1([O-])O[Si]([O-])([O-])O[Si]([O-])([O-])O1

Its ring backbone alternates three silicon atoms and three bridging oxygen atoms. Six additional, nonbridging oxygens carry the formal negative charges. Each silicon remains tetrahedral; the SMILES does not specify ring conformation.

6.6 — The silicate layer and its 16-tetrahedron fragment

First, the charge per stated composition unit is

\[ q=4(+4)+10(-2)=-4, \]

so

\[ \boxed{m=4}. \]

In the extended sheet, each tetrahedron shares three oxygen corners with three neighbouring tetrahedra. Its fourth corner is unshared with other silicon tetrahedra. Therefore the number of distinct oxygens per silicon is

\[ \frac{3}{2}+1=\frac{5}{2}, \]

giving the composition \(\ce{[Si4O10]^4-}\). Per four silicon atoms, there are six bridging oxygens and four oxygens unshared with other silicon tetrahedra.

A suitable finite patch consists of four fused hexagonal rings. The following prescription specifies the drawing exactly:

  • Draw an outer cycle of 14 tetrahedra, labelled consecutively \(1,2,\ldots,14\), with 14 joined back to 1.
  • Place tetrahedra 15 and 16 inside this boundary.
  • Add the five connections \(3\!-\!15\), \(13\!-\!15\), \(15\!-\!16\), \(6\!-\!16\), and \(10\!-\!16\).
  • Represent every connection by one shared oxygen corner.

The four hexagonal rings then have the vertex sequences

\[ \begin{aligned} &1-2-3-15-13-14-1,\\ &3-4-5-6-16-15-3,\\ &6-7-8-9-10-16-6,\\ &10-11-12-13-15-16-10. \end{aligned} \]

Tetrahedra \(3,6,10,13,15,16\) each have three neighbours; the remaining ten each have two. The number of shared oxygens is consequently

\[ \boxed{B=\frac{10(2)+6(3)}{2}=19}. \]

For the polyhedral drawing, keep the three potentially shared corners of each tetrahedron in the basal plane, with its fourth corner pointing to the same side of the sheet.

An infinite layer has no single finite molecular SMILES. The fully deprotonated 16-tetrahedron silicate-sheet fragment just specified can, however, be represented by:

[O-][Si]1([O-])O[Si]([O-])([O-])O[Si]2([O-])O[Si]([O-])([O-])O[Si]([O-])([O-])O[Si]3([O-])O[Si]([O-])([O-])O[Si]([O-])([O-])O[Si]([O-])([O-])O[Si]4([O-])O[Si]([O-])([O-])O[Si]([O-])([O-])O[Si]([O-])(O[Si]([O-])(O2)O[Si]([O-])(O3)O4)O[Si]([O-])([O-])O1

As an isolated fragment, this has 19 bridging and 26 nonbridging oxygens:

\[ N_{\mathrm O}=16(4)-19=45, \qquad q=16(4)-45(2)=-26. \]

Thus its isolated formula is \(\ce{[Si16O45]^26-}\). The boundary oxygens account for the difference between this finite fragment’s composition and the periodic layer composition.

6.7 — pH of the copper(II) sulfate solution

In the specified model, the tetraaquacopper(II) ion, O->[Cu+2](<-O)(<-O)<-O, undergoes its first acid dissociation:

\[ \ce{[Cu(H2O)4]^2+ <=> [Cu(OH)(H2O)3]^+ + H+}. \]

The product is the triaquahydroxidocopper(II) ion, [OH-]->[Cu+2](<-O)(<-O)<-O. The proton is represented formally by [H+]. These dative-bond SMILES specify oxygen-to-copper coordination connectivity, without fixing coordination geometry or the surrounding solvent structure.

Let the initial copper concentration be

\[ c_0=0.1\ \mathrm{mol\,L^{-1}}, \]

and let the hydrogen-ion concentration produced be \(x\). In the usual ideal, single-equilibrium treatment,

\[ K_a^{I}=\frac{x^2}{c_0-x}. \]

Because hydrolysis is small, \(c_0-x\approx c_0\). Using molar concentrations,

\[ [\ce{H+}] \approx\sqrt{K_a^{I}c_0} =\sqrt{(1\times10^{-7})(0.1)} =1\times10^{-4}\ \mathrm{mol\,L^{-1}}. \]

Therefore,

\[ \boxed{\mathrm{pH} =-\log_{10}\left(\frac{[\ce{H+}]}{1\ \mathrm{mol\,L^{-1}}}\right) =4.0}. \]

The fraction hydrolysed is

\[ \frac{x}{c_0} =\frac{10^{-4}}{0.1} =10^{-3}=0.1\%, \]

which confirms the assumed small degree of hydrolysis.

6.8 — Reaction of copper(II) sulfate with liquid glass

The copper(II) solution is acidic through cation hydrolysis, whereas metasilicate solution is alkaline through anion hydrolysis. Mixing them promotes mutual hydrolysis, producing copper(II) hydroxide and hydrated silica.

One way to express the coupled processes is

\[ \ce{SiO3^2- + 2H2O <=> H2SiO3 + 2OH-} \]

and

\[ \ce{Cu^2+ + 2OH- -> Cu(OH)2 v}. \]

The overall net ionic equation is

\[ \boxed{\ce{Cu^2+ + SiO3^2- + 2H2O -> Cu(OH)2 v + H2SiO3 v}}. \]

Including the spectator ions gives

\[ \boxed{\ce{CuSO4 + Na2SiO3 + 2H2O -> Cu(OH)2 v + H2SiO3 v + Na2SO4}}. \]

Copper(II) hydroxide is the blue precipitate, and \(\ce{H2SiO3}\) denotes the hydrated silica gel discussed in 6.1.

The copper(II) ion is [Cu+2]; the spectator ions are sodium [Na+] and sulfate [O-]S(=O)(=O)[O-]. Composition SMILES for the ionic substances are:

Substance SMILES
Copper(II) sulfate [Cu+2].[O-]S(=O)(=O)[O-]
Sodium metasilicate [Na+].[Na+].[O-][Si](=O)[O-]
Copper(II) hydroxide [Cu+2].[OH-].[OH-]
Sodium sulfate [Na+].[Na+].[O-]S(=O)(=O)[O-]

These disconnected-ion SMILES specify composition; they do not describe solid-state coordination networks.

The solution was checked against the official solution.