Ammonium carbonate

This substance is very common in everyday life, however, perhaps, only in units, connoisseurs of chemistry, there is an associative connection of it with those habitual and traditional "manifestations" that we use in everyday life.

First of all, ammonium carbonate is a known, applied to all food labels, additive E503. It has a synthetic structure, and, as claimed, its level of danger to human health is zero. However, recently this information is questioned by some researches of chemists.

In the food industry, this substance is used mainly as a disintegrant or emulsifier.

Let us consider some chemical aspects of the preparation, properties and applications of this compound. As it was said, it is most known to us on the labeling as "E503 additive", this is the ammonium carbonate that we are interested in. This is an ammonium salt of carbonic acid, but another well-known name for this substance is ammonia. In the initial state, in appearance, it is colorless crystals, which are very readily soluble in aqueous solutions. The chemical molecular formula has the form: (NH4) 2CO3. According to physical properties, ammonium carbonate is volatile, that is, it is an unstable compound. For example, even at room temperature and air access, the substance begins to oxidize during the reaction, which produces ammonia gas, and the original compound is converted to ammonium bicarbonate. Ammonia in the gaseous state is toxic. When the temperature of the medium in which the compound is kept to 60 ° C rises, it is already broken up into ordinary water, the ammonia and carbon dioxide gas we know.

This is the most secretion of gases in the course of the reaction and causes the use of ammonium carbonate as a food additive E503 in industrial production, primarily in the confectionery. It is also widely used in bakery as a substitute for yeast.

In modern chemical industry enterprises, the preparation of a substance is associated with the heating of mixtures of ammonium chloride. Reaction of synthesis is also applied back to the decomposition, while the composition is not heated, but, on the contrary, rapid cooling. Initially, ammonium carbonate, obtained solely from organics - horns of cattle, hair, was considered as a substance that can be produced only at very high temperatures.

As noted above, some modern studies have begun to classify the substance as dangerous. This attribution is due precisely to the toxicity of gaseous ammonia. This can be easily understood if you carefully analyze the composition of ammonium carbonate, the interaction with the acid and those substances that are formed as a result of this reaction. So, in its course carbon dioxide and ammonia are formed, but ammonia, as it was said, immediately disappears, like carbon dioxide. As a result, only water remains. Therefore, it is possible to consider the E503 additive as dangerous to humans and their health only with a certain caveat - it can cause harm only when it is in its original state.

Therefore, the use of this compound in the form of a dietary supplement is allowed almost everywhere throughout the world. As a certification conclusion, the data of the FSA - the state standardization agency of Great Britain is used here.

Therefore, the use of the additive is so widespread. In addition to the already mentioned segments of use, this substance is used, for example, in pharmaceutical production in the manufacture of various syrups, of course - ammonia and other preparations. It is also used in the production of wines as a fermentation accelerator, and, especially recently, as a colorant in cosmetics.