Beryllium oxalate

Beryllium oxalate is an inorganic compound, a salt of beryllium metal and oxalic acid with the chemical formula Template:Chem. It forms colorless crystals, dissolves in water, and also forms crystalline hydrates. The compound is used to prepare ultra-pure beryllium oxide by thermal decomposition.

Synthesis

The action of oxalic acid on beryllium hydroxide:

$𝖡𝖾\mathsf{(}𝖮𝖧{\mathsf{)}}_{\mathrm{𝟤}}\mathsf{+}{𝖧}_{\mathrm{𝟤}}{𝖢}_{\mathrm{𝟤}}{𝖮}_{\mathrm{𝟦}}\stackrel{}{\to }𝖡𝖾{𝖢}_{\mathrm{𝟤}}{𝖮}_{\mathrm{𝟦}}\mathsf{+}\mathrm{𝟤}{𝖧}_{\mathrm{𝟤}}𝖮$

Chemical properties

Crystalline hydrates lose water when heated:

$𝖡𝖾{𝖢}_{\mathrm{𝟤}}{𝖮}_{\mathrm{𝟦}}\mathsf{\cdot }\mathrm{𝟥}{𝖧}_{\mathrm{𝟤}}𝖮\underset{-2H_{2}O}{\overset{100^{o}C}{\to }}𝖡𝖾{𝖢}_{\mathrm{𝟤}}{𝖮}_{\mathrm{𝟦}}\mathsf{\cdot }{𝖧}_{\mathrm{𝟤}}𝖮\underset{-H_{2}O}{\overset{220^{o}C}{\to }}𝖡𝖾{𝖢}_{\mathrm{𝟤}}{𝖮}_{\mathrm{𝟦}}$