Hydroxylammonium chloride

Hydroxylammonium chloride is the hydrochloric acid salt of hydroxylamine. Hydroxylamine is a biological intermediate in the nitrification (biological oxidation of ammonia with oxygen into nitrite) and in the anammox (biological oxidation of nitrite and ammonium into dinitrogen gas) which are important in the nitrogen cycle in soil and in wastewater treatment.

Applications

Hydroxylammonium chloride is used in organic synthesis for preparation of oximes and hydroxamic acids from carboxylic acids, N- and O- substituted hydroxyamines, and addition reactions of carbon-carbon double bond.

During the acetyl bromide method of extracting lignin from lignocellulosic biomass, hydroxylammonium chloride can be used to remove bromine and polybromide from the solution.

In surface treatments, it is used in the preparation of anti-skinning agents, corrosion inhibitors, and cleaner additives. It is also a starting material for pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals manufacturing. In the rubber and plastics industries, it is an antioxidant, vulcanization accelerator, and radical scavenger.

It is also used as a fixative for textile dyes, auxiliary in some dyeing processes, as a metal extraction and flotation aid, as an antioxidant in fatty acids and soaps, and as a color stabilizer and emulsion additive in color films.

References

• Fukushima, R.S.; Dehority, B.A.; Loerch, S.C. (1991). "Modification of a colorimetric analysis for lignin and its use in studying the inhibitory effects of lignin on forage digestion by ruminal microorganisms". J. Anim. Sci 69 295–304.
• Elstner, E.F.; Heupel, A. (1976). "Inhibition of nitrite formation from hydroxylammoniumchloride: a simple assay for superoxide dismutase". Anal. Biochem. 70 (2): 616–20.