4/17/2012 - The First Synthesis of Ammonium Chloride

The first recorded synthesis of this ammonium chloride compound was performed by Joseph Priestly, the minister responsible for my last post.  This was done while he was again experimenting with various gasses, and this time he was working with ammonia, seeing what would happen if he collecting a gas over mercury given off by ammonia water.  This gas was colorless, but contained the most pungent odor, so he took it even further by bringing the ammonia gas together with the hydrogen chloride gas.  This reaction produced a cloud, which after a while settled to form an odorless white powder.  He came to terms that this was something new when he analyzed it and noticed that there was no pungent odor from either the ammonia, nor the HCl.

NH_3(aq) + HCl_(aq) → NH₄Cl_(aq)