Sodium perchlorate

Sodium perchlorate is a perchlorate of sodium and has the formula NaClO₄. Sodium perchlorate melts with decomposition at 480 °C. Its heat of formation is -382.75 kJ mol^-1. It is a white crystalline solid. It is hygroscopic. It is soluble in water and in alcohol. It usually comes as the monohydrate, which has a rhombic crystal structure.

Uses

The present major use of perchlorate salts is as oxidizers in solid propellants such as NASA's solid rocket boosters. The potassium salt was first used and quickly followed by what is now the more important salt, ammonium perchlorate. Lithium perchlorate, which has the highest weight percentage of oxygen of all compounds, has been tested as an oxidizer in solid propellants, but has not found favor with propellant manufacturers due to its hygroscopicity.

Sodium perchlorate itself finds only minimal use in pyrotechnics because it is hygroscopic; ammonium and potassium perchlorates are preferred. They are made by double decomposition from a solution of sodium perchlorate and potassium or ammonium chlorides.

It is also used in standard DNA extraction and hybridization reactions in molecular biology.

Synthesis

Sodium perchlorate is manufactured by anodic oxidation of sodium chloride or sodium chlorate at high current density, with platinum (or in some cases, lead dioxide, manganese dioxide, and possibly magnetite and cobalt oxide) anodes and graphite, steel, nickel, or titanium cathodes.

See also

• Sodium chlorate
• Potassium chlorate
• Potassium perchlorate