Aluminium carbonate (Al2(CO3)3), is a carbonate of aluminium. It is not well characterized; one authority says that simple carbonates of aluminium are not known.[2] However related compounds are known, such as the basic sodium aluminium carbonate mineral dawsonite (NaAlCO3(OH)2) and hydrated basic aluminium carbonate minerals scarbroite (Al5(CO3)(OH)13•5(H2O)) and hydroscarbroite (Al14(CO3)3(OH)36•nH2O).[3][4][5]
Preparation
For many years there was no evidence for the existence of any carbonate-containing ternary Al-C-O phase, i.e., Al2(CO3)3,[6] however in 2023 Al2[CO3]3 and Al2[C2O5][CO3]2 (dialuminium carbonate pyrocarbonate) were produced with a carbon dioxide pressure of 24 and 38 GPa. This means that the Earth's mantle may contain aluminium carbonate minerals.[7]
Some minerals contain both aluminium and carbonate. Dawsonite has the formula NaAlCO3(OH)2. Hydrotalcites, both synthetic and natural, are layered metal hydroxides comprised in part of aluminium and carbonate.[8]
Surface carbonate species readily form upon exposure of aluminium oxide to CO2.[9]
Uses
Aluminium carbonate, along with aluminium hydroxide and aluminium oxide, is a phosphate-binding drug that is sometimes administered to dogs and cats to bind intestinal phosphate and prevent the absorption of dietary phosphate as well as to decrease absorption of phosphate excreted by the pancreas. It is seldom used in humans because of concerns with toxicity, but cats and dogs do not appear to have a toxic response to its presence.[10]
^Bayarjargal, Lkhamsuren; Spahr, Dominik; Milman, Victor; Marquardt, Julien; Giordano, Nico; Winkler, Björn (28 August 2023). "Anhydrous Aluminum Carbonates and Isostructural Compounds". Inorganic Chemistry. 62 (34): 13910–13918. doi:10.1021/acs.inorgchem.3c01832. PMID37579301. S2CID260898136.
^Costantino, Umberto; Marmottini, Fabio; Nocchetti, Morena; Vivani, Riccardo (1998). "New Synthetic Routes to Hydrotalcite-Like Compounds − Characterisation and Properties of the Obtained Materials". European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry. 1998 (10): 1439–1446. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1099-0682(199810)1998:10<1439::AID-EJIC1439>3.0.CO;2-1.
^Parkyns, N. D. (1969-01-01). "The surface properties of metal oxides. Part II. An infrared study of the adsorption of carbon dioxide on γ-alumina". Journal of the Chemical Society A: Inorganic, Physical, Theoretical: 410–417. doi:10.1039/J19690000410. ISSN0022-4944.