Silver chlorite explained

Silver chlorite is a chemical compound with the formula AgClO₂. This slightly yellow solid is shock sensitive and has an orthorhombic crystal structure.

Preparation

Silver chlorite is prepared by the reaction of silver nitrate and sodium chlorite:^[1]

Reactions and properties

If normally heated, it explodes violently at 105 °C:

If heated very carefully, it decomposes at 156 °C to form silver chloride. It can also decompose to silver chlorate is chlorous acid is present.

Silver chlorite reacts explosively with various substances such as sulfur and hydrochloric acid, forming silver chloride. It also gets reduced by sulfur dioxide, and reacts with sulfuric acid to form chlorine dioxide.^[2] This compound explodes in contact with iodomethane and iodoethane.^[3]

Silver chlorite complexes

Silver chlorite can react with anhydrous ammonia to form triammonia-silver chlorite:

Notes and References

1. J. Cooper . R. E. Marsh . On the structure of AgClO₂ . Acta Crystallogr. . 1961 . 14 . 2 . 202–203 . 10.1107/S0365110X61000693 . English. free . 1961AcCry..14..202C .
2. Book: Joseph William Mellor . Joseph William Mellor . Supplement to Mellor's Comprehensive Treatise on Inorganic and Theoretical Chemistry: suppl. 3. K, Rb, Cs, Fr . 1922 . Longmans, Green and Company . University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign . 284 . English.
3. Book: Urben . Peter . Bretherick's Handbook of Reactive Chemical Hazards . 2013 . Elsevier Science . 9780080523408 . 4 . English.