Mixed magnesium-aluminiun hydroxides. I. Preparation and characterization of compounds formed in dialysed systems

Abstract

Abstract The materials formed by dialysis of the precipitates formed by the reaction of NaOH with mixed Mg-Al solutions are described. In addition to aluminium and magnesium hydroxides, two hydrocarbonates having Mg/Al ratios of about 5 : 1 and 2 : 1 are formed, essentially pure, from solutions with Mg/Mg + Al molar ratios of 0.8 and 0.7, respectively. X-ray powder data shows that they have partially ordered hexagonal layer structures with unit layer dimensions a = 3.048 Å, layer thickness 7.60 Å for the Al-rich compound and a = 3.072 Å, layer thickness 7.92 Å for the Al-poor compound. X-ray and chemical data show that the new compounds resemble the minerals hydrotalcite and manasseite and also the compounds described as Mg-Al hydroxides by Feitknecht.