Question

Name the following:

A metal chloride which is soluble in excess ammonium hydroxide solution but is insoluble in water.

Answer 1

• When Silver chloride $\left(\mathrm{AgCl}\right)$ reacts with Ammonium hydroxide $\left({\mathrm{NH}}_4\mathrm{OH}\right)$ it produces a complex molecule.
• The reaction can be shown as:

$$\begin{gathered} \mathrm{AgCl}+2{\mathrm{NH}}_4\mathrm{OH}\to \left[\mathrm{Ag}{\left({\mathrm{NH}}_3\right)}_2\right]\mathrm{Cl}+2{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O} \\ \mathrm{Silver}\mathrm{chloride}\mathrm{Ammonium}\mathrm{hydroxide}\mathrm{Diamine}\mathrm{silver}\left(\mathrm{I}\right)\mathrm{chloride}\mathrm{Water} \end{gathered}$$

However, $\left(\mathrm{AgCl}\right)$ does not react with water. Silver chloride is soluble in the aqueous solution of ammonium hydroxide but insoluble in water.