Kaliumhydrogencarbonat

English translation: info only

14:40 Aug 25, 2002
German to English translations [PRO]
Tech/Engineering
German term or phrase: Kaliumhydrogencarbonat
Need Advice:

In a pharmaceutical test specification: The chemical name of this substance is, of course, Potassium (bi-) carbonate, but in the spec, Kaliumhydrogencarbonat is used giving potassium carbonate / potassium bicarbonate as "synonyms".

Should I use "potassium hydrogen carbonate" or go with potassium bicarbonate?

Thanks for your advice!

Harold
Vadney (X)
English translation:info only
Explanation:
Potassium hydrogen carbonate is the correct official chemical name for this substance. Potassium bicarbonate (or potassium bicarb) is the layman's or so-called trivial name, but best-known in households. Since this is a pharmaceutical context, it is definately better to use potassium hydrogen carbonate. (I'm a chemist)

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Note added at 2002-08-26 04:45:47 (GMT)
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It is best to not to use potassium hydrocarbonate, this term has obviously been coined by non-chemists and is totally incorrect, particularly in this context.

BTW, potassium carbonate = K2CO3, and is NOT a synonym for potassium hydrogen carbonate/bicarb = KHCO3
Selected response from:

Gillian Scheibelein
Germany
Local time: 16:08
Grading comment
3 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +3potassium hydrocarbonate
Libero_Lang_Lab
4info only
Gillian Scheibelein


  

Answers


11 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
potassium hydrocarbonate


Explanation:
another name for potassium bicarbonate I believe. One of these two would be OK I think

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Note added at 2002-08-25 14:53:37 (GMT)
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But in fact this list from ICR also gives potassium hydrogen carbonate as a synonym:

http://www.algol.fi/algol/russiawww.nsf/pages/1products?Open...

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Note added at 2002-08-25 14:54:25 (GMT)
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My suspicion is that hydrogen carbonate is the least commonly used of the three.

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Note added at 2002-08-25 15:00:11 (GMT)
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The following link shows potassium bicarbonate as having the chemical symbol: KHCO3

http://www.ahperformance.com/products/pobi.html

The link below confirms that this is the same as Potassium Hydrogen Carbonate

http://www.ijvs.com/spectra/spectra.htm


Ignore my comment about potassium hydrogen carbonate being the least common!

potassium bicarbonate gets around 50,000 hits on google
potassium hydrogen carbonate gets around 25,000
potassium hydrocarbonate only a few hundred

So perhaps best to go with bicarbonate. Certainly as a product name in commercial spheres this is going to be more used than hydrogen carbonate, which is perhaps a more accurate chemical description...

Libero_Lang_Lab
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:08
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in pair: 12

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Alison Schwitzgebel
39 mins

agree  leff
1 hr

agree  Sven Petersson
1 hr

agree  Gillian Scheibelein: potassium hydrogen carbonate is correct
3 hrs

disagree  Zareh Darakjian Ph.D.: Gillian is right (also potassium monohydrogen carbonate). Hydrocarbonate might get hits, but still it is not correct.
12 hrs
  -> if you read my comments in full you would see that this is exactly what i have said - KHCO3 = potassium hydrogen carbonate OR potassium bicarbonate... I will take your word for it that Potassium monohydrogen carbonate is also a possibility
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13 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
info only


Explanation:
Potassium hydrogen carbonate is the correct official chemical name for this substance. Potassium bicarbonate (or potassium bicarb) is the layman's or so-called trivial name, but best-known in households. Since this is a pharmaceutical context, it is definately better to use potassium hydrogen carbonate. (I'm a chemist)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2002-08-26 04:45:47 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

It is best to not to use potassium hydrocarbonate, this term has obviously been coined by non-chemists and is totally incorrect, particularly in this context.

BTW, potassium carbonate = K2CO3, and is NOT a synonym for potassium hydrogen carbonate/bicarb = KHCO3

Gillian Scheibelein
Germany
Local time: 16:08
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in pair: 3469
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