Re: Ferric Oxalate
Richard Sullivan (richsul@netcom.com)
Tue, 24 Jan 1995 07:51:49 -0800 (PST)
It's no telling what you bought, though as some have speculated, it may be
ferrous oxalate. Years ago, a chemical house Alpha-Ventron carried a
yellow powder ferric oxalate that cost in the neighborhood of $1.50 per
gram. At that time it was almost as expensive as the palladium salt. Herb
Quick, who I think is still at the photo museum in Riverside Ca., told me
about a green crystal form of ferric oxalate back in the 40's or 50's. As
I recall both were said to be very hard to dissolve.
EDTA seems to be the right way to go in as far as dissolving the stuff.
The traditional use of oxalic acid appears to be to aid in solubility as
it has a slight chelation effect. Modern EDTA works better. I have made a
54% solution of f.o. by using EDTA. The f.o. is as thick as Karo Syrup.
It seems to be just an oddity as my testing revealed no new magic from
using a 54% solution.
Dick Sullivan
richsul@netcom.com