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  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 1996  > February  >
Laboratory Experiments
Fundamental Issues of Thermodynamics Illuminated by Conspicuous Inorganic Chemistry: Oxidation of [Co(H2O)6]2+ to [Co(H2O)6]3+ by Hydrogen Peroxide: A Nonspontaneous Redox Reaction Made Feasible by Thermodynamic Coupling
Susan Cline Schäffer and Claus E. Schäffer
Undergraduate Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Building 375, DK 2800, Lyngby, Denmark
Cover
February 1996
Vol. 73 No. 2
p. 180
Abstract
The thermodynamic properties of hydrogen peroxide as an oxidizing agent do not allow it to oxidize [Co(OH2)6]2+ to [Co(OH2)6]3+. However, if [Co(OH2)6]3+ is formed in two steps, hydrogen peroxide is able to do it. The trick, which embodies two beautiful, classroom reactions, is to let the acid neutralization of HCO3- provide the driving force. The first step is the oxidation of pink [Co(OH2)6]2+ to green [Co(CO3)3]3-; the second one is the reaction of [Co(CO3)3]3- with acid to form the blue [Co(OH2)6]3+. The paradoxical reduction of [Co(OH2)6]3+ to [Co(OH2)6]2+ by H2O2, which is irrelevant for the thermodynamic discussion, forms an extra point in the demonstration experiment.
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*  Citation
 Schäffer, Susan Cline; Schäffer, Claus E. J. Chem. Educ. 1996 73 180.
*  Keywords
*  History
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Last Updated:		 9/25/1999
5/22/2006
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