Description
Sodium chloride is widely distributed in nature. Oceans are the vast source of sodium chloride. It occurs in seawater at an average concentration of 2.68 wt%. It also occurs in many inland saline waters and in salt deposits in sedimentary rocks, as the mineral halite.
Sodium chloride is probably the most important salt of both sodium and chlorine. Sodium chloride, common table salt, is an essential component of most food preparation, imparting flavor to food and providing the sodium nutritional requirement. Also, it is used for preserving food. Therapeutically, NaCl solution is used to combat dehydration as an electrolyte replenisher, and it is an emetic.
The most important applications of sodium chloride in the chemical industry are in making a number of important industrial chemicals such as hydrochloric acid, sodium hydroxide, sodium carbonate, and metallic sodium. It is the starting material in manufacturing these substances. Other uses are in dyeing and printing fabrics, glazing pottery, in making soap, and for curing hides. Sodium chloride is a component of many freezing mixtures.
Chemical Properties
Sodium chloride (NaCl), also known as common salt or halite, is a white crystalline powder or colorless crystal with a saline taste. Its crystal lattice has a face-centered cubic structure. Although solid sodium chloride is typically anhydrous, it may crystallize as a dihydrate below 0 °C. It is soluble in water, slightly soluble in alcohol, and melts at 804 °C (1480 °F). Sodium chloride is the most important sodium compound and occurs naturally in seawater, underground deposits, and brine wells. It serves as a basic raw material for producing chlorine, sodium hypochlorite, sodium bisulfate, soda ash, and hydrogen chloride. Additionally, it is used in food preparation, fertilizers, and for de-icing roads.
Physical properties
Sodium chloride is the familiar compound commonly referred to as salt or table salt. Its mineral form, called halite, is found in natural deposits worldwide and constitutes approximately 2.7% by weight of the dissolved minerals in seawater. As an ionic compound, it exists as a white crystalline solid with a cubic structure composed of alternating sodium and chloride ions. Sodium chloride is essential for life, with the average adult requiring an intake of about 1 to 2 grams per day. It supplies sodium, which performs numerous vital functions, including maintaining cellular water balance, facilitating nerve signal transmission, and enabling muscle contraction.
The space lattice of NaCl belongs to the cubic system, and its rock salt structure has a lattice constant of a=0.55870 nm and Na–Cl=0.27935 nm. The cleavage plane is (100).
Electrical Conductivity
| Concentration | 0.50% | 1% | 2% | 5% | 10% | 15% | 20% | 25% |
|---|
| mS/cm | 8.2 | 16 | 30.2 | 70.1 | 126 | 171 | 204 | 222 |
|---|
Uses
Natural salt is the source of chlorine and of sodium as well as of all, or practically all, their Compounds, e.g., hydrochloric acid, chlorates, sodium carbonate, hydroxide, etc.; for preserving foods; manufacture of soap, to salt out dyes; in freezing mixtures; for dyeing and printing fabrics, glazing pottery, curing hides; metallurgy of tin and other metals.
Uses
Sodium chloride Commonly known as table salt, sodium chloride is found as
the mineral halite and in brines and seawater. Sodium chloride
is soluble in water but less so in alcohol. It was the first
halide to be combined with silver nitrate and was also used by
L. J. M. Daguerre and W. H. F. Talbot as a stabilizer before
fi xing with hypo was adopted.
Uses
sodium chloride (table salt) is used as a preservative, astringent, and anti-septic to treat inflamed lesions. It can also be used to mask odor, reduce product density, and control viscosity. Diluted solutions are not considered irritating.
Production Methods
Sodium chloride occurs naturally as the mineral halite. Commercially,
it is obtained by the solar evaporation of sea water, by mining,
or by the evaporation of brine from underground salt deposits.
Preparation
Sodium chloride is produced by solar evaporation of seawater or brine from underground salt deposits. It also is produced by mining rock salt. The commercial product contains small amounts of calcium and magnesium chlorides.
Definition
ChEBI: Sodium chloride is an inorganic chloride salt with sodium(1+) as the counterion. Chemically, a salt is a compound produced by the neutralization reaction between an acid and a base, where the acid's hydrogen ions are replaced by metal or other cations. While most salts (e.g., NaCl, NH₄NO₃) are crystalline ionic compounds, certain covalent metal compounds like TiCl₄ are also broadly categorized as salts.
brand name
Broncho Saline (Blairex).
General Description
A white crystalline solid. Commercial grade usually contains some chlorides of calcium and magnesium which absorb moisture and cause caking.
Air & Water Reactions
Water soluble.
Reactivity Profile
Sodium chloride is generally unreactive. Releases gaseous hydrogen chloride if mixed with a concentrated nonvolatile acid such as sulfuric acid.
Fire Hazard
Literature sources indicate that Sodium chloride is nonflammable.
reaction suitability
reaction type: Precipitation reactions
Agricultural Uses
Halite is a naturally occurring sodium chloride (NaCl) deposit. The most abundant potash mineral deposit is sylvite (KCl). Sylvite with halite forms the common potash ore, called sylvinite.
Pharmaceutical Applications
Sodium chloride is widely used in a variety of parenteral and
nonparenteral pharmaceutical formulations, where the primary use
is to produce isotonic solutions.
Sodium chloride has been used as a lubricant and diluent in
capsules and direct-compression tablet formulations in the past,
although this practice is no longer common. Sodium chloride has
also been used as a channeling agent and as an osmotic agent
in the cores of controlled-release tablets. It has been used as a
porosity modifier in tablet coatings, and to control drug release
from microcapsules.
The addition of sodium chloride to aqueous spray-coating
solutions containing hydroxypropyl cellulose or hypromellose
suppresses the agglomeration of crystalline cellulose particles.(13)
Sodium chloride can also be used to modify drug release from
gels and from emulsions. It can be used to control micelle
size, and to adjust the viscosity of polymer dispersions by
altering the ionic character of a formulation.
Biochem/physiol Actions
Sodium chloride helps to stimulate the stable induction of T-helper cell 17 (TH17) cells.
Clinical Use
Treatment and prophylaxis of sodium chloride deficiency
Safety Profile
Poison by intraperitoneal and intracervical routes. Moderately toxic by ingestion, intravenous, and subcutaneous routes. An experimental teratogen. Human systemic effects by ingestion: blood pressure increase. Human reproductive effects by intraplacental route: terminates pregnancy. Experimental reproductive effects. Human mutation data reported. A skin and eye irritant. When bulk sodium chloride is heated to high temperature, a vapor is emitted that is irritating, particularly to the eyes. Ingestion of large amounts of sodium chloride can cause irritation of the stomach. Improper use of salt tablets may produce this effect. Potentially explosive reaction with dichloromaleic anhydride + urea. Electrolysis of mixtures with nitrogen compounds may form the explosive nitrogen trichloride. Reaction with burning lithmm forms the dangerously reactive sodmm. The molten salt at 11 00' reacts explosively with water. Violent reaction with BrF3. When heated to decomposition it emits toxic fumes of Cland Na2O.
Safety
Sodium chloride is the most important salt in the body for
maintaining the osmotic tension of blood and tissues. About
5–12 g of sodium chloride is consumed daily, in the normal adult
diet, and a corresponding amount is excreted in the urine. As an
excipient, sodium chloride may be regarded as an essentially
nontoxic and nonirritant material. However, toxic effects following
the oral ingestion of 0.5–1.0 g/kg body-weight in adults may occur.
The oral ingestion of larger quantities of sodium chloride, e.g.
1000 g in 600mL of water, is harmful and can induce irritation
of the gastrointestinal tract, vomiting, hypernatremia, respiratory
distress, convulsions, or death.
In rats, the minimum lethal intravenous dose is 2.5 g/kg bodyweight.
LD50 (mouse, IP): 6.61 g/kg
LD50 (mouse, IV): 0.65 g/kg
LD50 (mouse, oral): 4.0 g/kg
LD50 (mouse, SC): 3.0 g/kg
LD50 (rat, oral): 3.0 g/kg
Drug interactions
Potentially hazardous interactions with other drugs
May impair the efficacy of antihypertensive drugs in
chronic renal failure.
Metabolism
Excess sodium is mainly excreted by the kidney, and small
amounts are lost in the faeces and sweat.
storage
Aqueous sodium chloride solutions are stable but may cause the
separation of glass particles from certain types of glass containers.
Aqueous solutions may be sterilized by autoclaving or filtration.
The solid material is stable and should be stored in a well-closed
container, in a cool, dry place.
It has been shown that the compaction characteristics and the
mechanical properties of tablets are influenced by the relative
humidity of the storage conditions under which sodium chloride
was kept.
Purification Methods
It is recrystallised from a saturated aqueous solution (2.7mL/g) by passing in HCl gas, or by adding EtOH or acetone. It can be freed from bromide and iodide impurities by adding chlorine water to an aqueous solution and boiling it for some time to expel free bromine and iodine. Traces of iron can be removed by prolonged boiling of solid NaCl in 6M HCl; the crystals are then washed with EtOH and dried at ca 100o. Sodium chloride has been purified by sublimation in a stream of pre-purified N2 and collected by electrostatic discharge [Ross & Winkler J Am Chem Soc 76 2637 1954]. For use as a primary analytical standard, analytical reagent grade NaCl should be finely ground, dried in an electric furnace at 500-600o in a platinum crucible, and allowed to cool in a desiccator. For most purposes, however, drying at 110-120o is satisfactory.
Incompatibilities
Aqueous sodium chloride solutions are corrosive to iron. They also
react to form precipitates with silver, lead, and mercury salts. Strong
oxidizing agents liberate chlorine from acidified solutions of sodium
chloride. The solubility of the antimicrobial preservative methylparaben
is decreased in aqueous sodium chloride solutions and
the viscosity of carbomer gels and solutions of hydroxyethyl
cellulose or hydroxypropyl cellulose is reduced by the addition of
sodium chloride.
Regulatory Status
GRAS listed. Included in the FDA Inactive Ingredients Database
(injections; inhalations; nasal, ophthalmic, oral, otic, rectal, and
topical preparations). Included in nonparenteral and parenteral
medicines licensed in the UK. Included in the Canadian List of
Acceptable Non-medicinal Ingredients.
