Talk:Sodium bisulfite

Harmful Gas Formed
In the introduction, this article states "Sodium bisulfite in contact with chlorine bleach (aqueous solution of sodium hypochlorite) will release harmful fumes." I cannot seem to find a source for this anywhere and would at least like an explanation of WHAT gas it is (these are after all fairly simple molecules and the only thing i can think it could be is Cl2.) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Brvman (talk • contribs) 01:41, 20 October 2010 (UTC)


 * New Note: "Harmful Fumes" should be noted as "steam" or "heat realeased." Minute quantities of intermediates and smaller by-products (CL2) will form with all reactions. This reaction is exothermic. The harmful fumes are no more than the already pungent Sodium Bisulfite being carried to the atmosphere with the heat of reaction.** — Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.150.49.50 (talk) 18:49, 22 March 2013 (UTC)

- I am also a bit confused by the second half of this first paragraph. Household bleach usually contains the hypochlorite (OCl-) species. The hypochlorite ion (OCl-) can speciate into Cl2, HOCl and OCl-, dependent on the pH. Considering the reaction between 'bleach' (HOCL) and sodium bisulfite - when the bulk solution environment is of a neutral pH (pH approx 6-8), then reaction that mostly occurs when sodium bisulfite is mixed with hypochlorite solutions is:

2NaHSO3 + 2HOCl = H2SO4 + 2HCl + Na2SO4

When strong sodium bisulfite solution (pH < 5) and strong sodium hypochlorite solutions (pH > 10) are mixed then a violent reaction, heating, boiling and spitting might occur. The localised pH where the molecules collide may vary between the extremes of each solution so gases such as chlorine gas (Cl2), and gases that are oxides of sulfur (i.e. SO2 and SO3) may also be given off.

In my humble opinion the first paragraph of this article should be altered. A simple chemical equation showing how NaCl is produced when 'bleach' is mixed with sodium bisulfite would be helpful.BluesLewis (talk) 06:34, 8 May 2016 (UTC)

DNA Methylation Analysis
I added a section on bisulfite sequencing, a common technique used when analyzing the methylation status of DNA, which is related to the epigenetic regulation of gene expression.

If anyone has a good image exemplifying the technique, it might be nice to add it. Mjatucla 02:58, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

sodium bisulfate as food preservative?
anyone has any info on this? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.230.196.196 (talk) 04:15, 29 January 2007 (UTC).

Antioxidant capacity of Sodium bisulfite ....!
It would be very nice to have comparative chart of antioxidant capacity of Sulfites, Bi-sulfites & metabisulfites, if anyone has done so by experimentation? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 125.16.17.1 (talk) 04:13, 28 December 2007 (UTC)

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Non-existence of solid sodium bisulfite
This article's infobox currently states NaHSO3 is a white solid with a density of 1.48 g/cm3, a melting point of 150 °C and a refractive index of 1.526. Yet according to an article in ''J. Chem. Educ.'', NaHSO3 does not exist as a solid. Concentrated solutions of Na+ and HSO3− evaporate to yield sodium metabisulfite, Na2S2O5 instead. Greenwood & Earnshaw says much the same thing in more general terms: "attempts to isolate MIHSO3 tend to produce disulfites by "dehydration": 2HSO3− S2O52− + H2O". I will correct the article soon unless anyone objects.

References:





--Ben (talk) 11:55, 8 June 2012 (UTC)

Not only this, the image is also misleading since the Bisulfite article states that the proton is believed to be on the sulfur, not on the oxygen. 132.77.137.5 (talk) 07:28, 1 July 2013 (UTC)

Steam boilers
The paragraph under "Industrial uses" about steam boilers is mostly copy-pasted from the cited source. I don't know how to evaluate the source's reliability or care enough to rewrite it myself. Cheers.Junkyardprince (talk) 03:14, 10 October 2017 (UTC)
 * Copied content removed. DferDaisy (talk) 23:43, 22 June 2019 (UTC)

Copyright problem removed
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If sodium bisulfite is in fact not a real compound
Then what is this picture? Looks like a compound to me. Then is this picture false and misleading, or is sodium bisulfite a real compound? Baller McGee (talk) 19:54, 5 April 2021 (UTC)
 * No cause for panic.
 * In aqueous solution, sodium ions and bisulfite ions coexist. Such solutions are prepared from a substance that we call sodium bisulfite.  The pictures show the bisulfite ion and a sodium ion, without solvation. --Smokefoot (talk) 23:11, 5 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Oh so it doesn't exist as a pure salt of sodium and bisulfite ions, but it exists as a substance with the same empirical formula, and it exists as ions in solution. Makes sense. Baller McGee (talk) 14:18, 15 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Lots of ionic stuff is nuanced like that. Sodium chloride is well defined as a solid, but once dissolved, sodium chloride no longer exists, just sodium ions and chloride ions separated by miles of solvation (ok, several angstroms).  Trisodium phosphate is well defined as a solid, but when dissolved in water gives a mixture of HPO42- and H2PO4-. Many gen chem labs use ammonium hydroxide, but it is extremely elusive virtually fictional compound. One of the reasons that organic chemistry is "easy" is that organic molecules persist in solution and the solid. Very "simple" ionic materials are often more complicated as to their identity.  Its also the reason that some chemists are no satisfied with X-ray crystallography, we want to know the solution structure.--Smokefoot (talk) 20:22, 15 April 2021 (UTC)
 * Lots of ionic stuff is nuanced like that. Sodium chloride is well defined as a solid, but once dissolved, sodium chloride no longer exists, just sodium ions and chloride ions separated by miles of solvation (ok, several angstroms).  Trisodium phosphate is well defined as a solid, but when dissolved in water gives a mixture of HPO42- and H2PO4-. Many gen chem labs use ammonium hydroxide, but it is extremely elusive virtually fictional compound. One of the reasons that organic chemistry is "easy" is that organic molecules persist in solution and the solid. Very "simple" ionic materials are often more complicated as to their identity.  Its also the reason that some chemists are no satisfied with X-ray crystallography, we want to know the solution structure.--Smokefoot (talk) 20:22, 15 April 2021 (UTC)