Product Description-Copper (II) Nitrate Hydrate CAS#10031-43-3

Copper(II) nitrate trihydrate is a hygroscopic white powder, highly water-soluble (~45 g at 0 °C). It can be recrystallized with concentrated nitric acid. On strong heating it decomposes into nitrogen oxides and copper oxide, and is also decomposed by hydrochloric acid.

Common hydrates are the hexahydrate (Cu(NO₃)₂·6H₂O) and trihydrate (Cu(NO₃)₂·3H₂O). The blue-crystalline hexahydrate (relative density 2.074) loses three water molecules at 26.4 °C to form the trihydrate, and decomposes into basic copper salts at 65 °C.

The trihydrate is a dark-blue trigonal prism crystal (MW 241.60, mp 114.5 °C, density 2.32 g/cm³). It dissolves readily in water and ethanol—concentrated solutions are green, dilute ones pale blue. It deliquesces easily and melts in its own water of crystallization at 114.5 °C; at 170 °C it loses nitric acid to form basic copper nitrate, and decomposes to copper oxide around 200 °C.

As an oxidizer, copper nitrate must be handled with care—contact with carbon, sulfur or other combustibles may cause fire or explosion. It is widely used in copper plating, pesticides, enamels and dyes, and is prepared by reacting copper oxide or copper metal with dilute nitric acid.