Basic copper carbonate

on roofs of Château Frontenac. Basic copper carbonate is prepared by combining aqueous solutions of copper(II) sulfate and sodium carbonate. Basic copper carbonate precipitates from the solution, with release of carbon dioxide : : Basic copper carbonate can also be prepared by treating aqueous solutions of copper(II) sulfate with sodium bicarbonate. Copper(II) sulfate may also be substituted with Copper(II) chloride. ==Uses==

Basic copper carbonate is used to remove thiols and hydrogen sulfide from some gas streams, a process called "sweetening". Like many other copper compounds, it also has been used as an algaecide, wood preservative and similar applications. It is a precursor to various catalysts and copper soaps. One example of the use of both azurite and its artificial form blue verditer is the portrait of the family of Balthazar Gerbier by Peter Paul Rubens. The green skirt of Deborah Kip is painted in azurite, smalt, blue verditer (artificial form of azurite), yellow ochre, lead-tin-yellow and yellow lake. The green color is achieved by mixing blue and yellow pigments. == Reactions ==

Basic copper carbonate is decomposed by acids, such as solutions of hydrochloric acid , into the copper(II) salt and carbon dioxide. In 1794 the French chemist Joseph Louis Proust (1754–1826) thermally decomposed copper carbonate to CO2 and CuO, cupric oxide. The basic copper carbonates, malachite and azurite, both decompose forming H2O, CO2, and CuO, cupric oxide. ==References==