THE INDIAN COMMU NITY SCHOOL, KUWAIT

SCHEME OF QUALITATIVE INORGANIC ANALYSIS

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS:

EXPERIMENT OBSERVATION INFERENCE

1 Noted the colour of the salt Colourless May not be Cu2+, Ni2+etc

2 Odour is noted a) Smell of Vinegar May be acetate

b) Smell of ammonia May be ammonium

3 Solubility

a) In water Insoluble May be Ca2+ or CO32-

b) In dil.HCl Insoluble May be Group I cation

4 Flame test: a) Pale green flame May be Ba2+

A little of the substance is made into a b) Brick red flame May be Ca2+
paste with conc.HCl [in a china dish]
and shown to the non-luminous part of c) Crimson red flame May be Sr2+
the flame using a glass rod

SYSTEMATIC ANALYSIS OF ANIONS:

1 A little of the substance is treated with Brisk effervescence of Presence of

dil.HCl colourless, odourless gas Carbonate(CO32-)
that turns lime water
milky CO32- + 2H+ → CO2 + H2O

CO2 + Ca(OH)2 → CaCO3 +

H2O

2 A little of the substance is treated with Smell of vinegar Presence of acetate

dil.H2SO4 in a china dish (CH3COO-)

CH3COO- + H+ → CH3COOH

3 A little of the substance is treated with Colourless pungent Presence of chloride (Cl-)
conc. H2SO4 smelling gas forming
thick white fumes with a Cl- + H+ → HCl
glass rod dipped in
 NH4OH NH3+HCl → NH4Cl

4 A little of the substance is warmed with Reddish brown vapours Presence of nitrate (NO3-)
conc. H2SO4 and then add Cu turnings (solution turns blue)
4H+ + 2 NO3- +Cu → 2NO2 +
Cu2+ +2H2O

5 An aqueous solution of the substance is Yellow Precipitate Presence of phosphate

warmed with conc. HNO3 and excess of (PO43-)
ammonium molybdate
3 NH4++24H++PO43-+
12MoO42- →
(NH4)3PMo12O40 + 12 H2O

6 An aqueous solution of the substance is White ppt insoluble in Presence of sulphate (SO42-)
treated with dil.HCl and excess of BaCl2 excess of dil.HCl
SO42- + Ba2+ → BaSO4
solution

CONFIRMATORY TEST FOR ANIONS

Carbonate: An aqueous solution of the White ppt soluble in Carbonate(CO32-) is

1 salt is treated with BaCl2 excess of dil.HCl confirmed

CO32- + Ba2+ → BaCO3

2 Chloride: An aqueous solution of the White curdy ppt soluble in Chloride (Cl-) is confirmed
substance is treated with dil. HNO3 and excess of NH4OH
AgNO3 solution Ag+ + Cl- → AgCl

AgCl +2NH3 → [Ag(NH3)2]Cl

3 Nitrate: An aqueous solution of the A brown ring is formed at Nitrate(NO3-) is confirmed

substance is mixed with an equal the junction of the two
amount of freshly prepared FeSO4 Fe2++NO3-+4H+ → Fe3++NO
liquids
solution and conc. H2SO4 is added along +2 H2O
the sides of the test tube [Fe(H2O)6]2+ + NO →
[Fe(H2O)5NO]2+

4 Acetate: An aqueous solution of the Reddish brown colour Acetate (CH3COO-) is

substance is treated with a few drops of confirmed
neutral FeCl3

5 Phosphate: An aqueous solution of the An yellow ring is formed Phosphate(PO43-) is

substance is treated with excess of at the junction of the two confirmed
AgNO3 solution. The yellow ppt formed
 is dissolved in dil.HNO3. Then NH4OH is liquids PO43- + 3Ag+ → Ag3PO4
added along the sides of the test tube

6 Sulphate: An aqueous solution of the White ppt Sulphate (SO42-) is

substance is treated with acetic acid and confirmed
lead acetate
SO42- + Pb2+ → PbSO4

SYSTEMATIC ANALYSIS OF CATIONS:

A stock solution of the substance is prepared in water/dil.HCl

1 Group Zero (NH4+): Colourless pungent Presence of NH4+

smelling gas which fumes
A little of the stock solution is warmed densely with a glass rod NH4+ +OH- → NH3 + H2O
with NaOH solution dipped in conc.HCl NH3 + HCl → NH4Cl

2 Group I (Pb2+): White ppt Presence of Pb2+

A little of the stock solution is treated Pb2+ + 2Cl- → PbCl2

with dil.HCl

3 Group II (Cu2+, Cd2+): a) Black ppt Presence of Cu2+

Through the filtrate of group I pass H2S Cu2+ + S2- → CuS

b) Yellow ppt Presence of Cd2+

Cd2+ + S2- → CdS

4 Group III (Al3+): White gelatinous Presence of Al3+

precipitate
A little of the stock solution is treated Al3++3OH- →Al(OH)3
with NH4Cl and excess of NH4OH

5 Group IV (Zn2+): Dull White ppt Presence of Zn2+

A little of the stock solution is treated Zn2+ + S2- → ZnS

with NH4Cl, excess of NH4OH and pass
H2S

6 Group V (Ca2+, Ba2+, Sr2+): White ppt Presence of group V cation

A little of the stock solution is treated Ca2+/Ba2+/Sr2+ + CO32- →

with NH4Cl, NH4OH and (NH4)2CO3 CaCO3/ BaCO3/ SrCO3
7 Group VI (Mg2+): White crystalline ppt Presence of Mg2+

A little of the stock solution is treated Mg2+ + HPO42- → MgHPO4

with NH4Cl, NH4OH and Na2HPO4

CONFIRMATORY TEST FOR CATIONS:

Ammonium (NH4+): Reddish brown ppt NH4+ confirmed

1
An aqueous solution of the substance is NH4+ + 2HgI42- + 4OH- →
treated with Nessler’s reagent [K2HgI4] NH2HgO.HgI +7I- + 3H2O
and NaOH

2 Lead (Pb2+):

Dissolve the white ppt (obtained in group I analysis) in boiling water and divide into two parts

a) To the first part, add KI Yellow ppt soluble in hot Pb2+ is confirmed
water and re-crystallises
as golden sprangles on Pb2++2I- → PbI2
cooling

b) To the second part, add potassium Yellow ppt Pb2+ is confirmed

chromate
Pb2++CrO42- → PbCrO4

3 Aluminium (Al3+): Formation of blue lake Al3+ confirmed

Dissolve the white gelatinous ppt of

group III in dil.HCl and add 2 drops of
blue litmus solution, followed by NH4OH
solution drop by drop

4 Zinc (Zn2+): White ppt Zn2+ confirmed

Dissolve the dull white ppt of group IV in 2Zn2+ + [Fe(CN)6]4- →

dil.HCl, boil off H2S and then add Zn2[Fe(CN)6]
K4[Fe(CN)6]

5 Ca2+/Ba2+and Sr2+:

Dissolve the white ppt of group V in minimum amount of dil. acetic acid, boil to expel CO2 and
divide into 3 parts

a) Ba2+: To the first part add K2CrO4 Yellow ppt Ba2+ confirmed
 solution Ba2++CrO42- → BaCrO4

b) Sr2+: To the second part add Scanty white ppt (appears Sr2+ confirmed
ammonium sulphate solution slowly in cold but readily
on boiling) Sr2++SO42- → SrSO4

c) Ca2+: To the third part add ammonium White ppt Ca2+ confirmed
oxalate solution
Ca2++C2O42- → CaC2O4

6 Magnessium (Mg2+): Pink ash Mg2+ confirmed

An aqueous solution of the substance is

treated with a few drops of conc. HNO3
and cobalt nitrate in a china dish. A filter
paper is soaked in this and burnt to
ashes