Spot Test-Qualitative Analysis for Cations

A. Objective:
Qualitative analysis of cations by performing precipitation, dissolving and complexation
reactions.

B. Principle:
Metal cations often form precipitates with certain anions, some form complexes ion with
proper ligands. This experiment uses these characteristics as the basis for qualitative analysis.
Since the results are easy to observe by eye, the reaction volume can be minimized to
single spot. “Spot test” is the name for this type of qualitative analysis. An 8 × 12 plate will
be used for this tests.

C. Chemicals and equipment

Chemicals
AgNO3 HCl
Pb(NO3)2 NaOH
Cu(NO3)2 NH3
Cd(NO3)2 H2SO4
Fe(NO3)3 K4Fe(CN)6
Al(NO3)3 K3Fe(CN)6
NH4OH KSCN
Ba(NO3)2 Na2CO3
8 × 12 plate Na2S
Equipment
Test tubes and rack Filter papar
Dropper
D.

1
D Procedure：

General procedure
(a) Spot test requires only one drop of each reagent to react.
(b) Observing carefully what happened in each reaction.

1. Label the plate as shown:

HCl NH3 NH3 NaOH NaOH CO32‾ SO42‾ SCN‾ K4Fe(CN)6 K3Fe(CN)6 S2‾
(little) (excess (little) (excess
) )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1
1
Ag+ A A Ag+
Pb2+ B B Pb2+
Cu2+ C C Cu2+
Cd2+ D D Cd2+
Fe3+ E E Fe3+
Al3+ F F Al3+
Zn2+ G G Zn2+
Ba2+ H H Ba2+
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1
1
HCl NH3 NH3 NaOH NaOH CO32‾ SO42‾ SCN‾ K4Fe(CN)6 K3Fe(CN)6 S2‾
(little) (excess (little) (excess
) )

(c) Perform all cross reaction and write down your observations.
(d) After all sulfide reaction, additional drop of 6 M- HNO3 should be added.

2. Unknown sample
(e) A unknown solution (contains 3 out of 5 cations, Fe3+, Ba2+, Pb2+, Cu2+and Zn2+). Base on
your results from 1, design your experiments to identified those cations.