Lead carbonate
chemical compound
Lead(II) carbonate is the chemical compound with the chemical formula PbCO3. It is a white, toxic solid. It occurs naturally as the mineral cerussite.
Structure
Like all metal carbonates, lead(II) carbonate adopts a dense, highly crosslinked structure consisting of intact CO2−3 and metal cation sites. As verified by X-ray crystallography, the Pb(II) centers are seven-coordinate, being surrounded by multiple carbonate ligands. The carbonate centers are bonded bidentate to a single Pb and bridge to five other Pb sites.
Production and use
Lead carbonate is manufactured by passing carbon dioxide into a cold dilute solution of lead(II) acetate, or by shaking a suspension of a lead salt more soluble than the carbonate with ammonium carbonate at a low temperature to avoid formation of basic lead carbonate.
Pb(CH3COO)2 + [NH4]2CO3 → PbCO3 + 2 [NH4](CH3COO)
Lead carbonate is used as a catalyst to polymerize formaldehyde to poly(oxymethylene). It improves the bonding of chloroprene to wire.
Regulations
The supply and use of this compound is restricted in Europe.
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This entry incorporates text from “Lead carbonate” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.