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Response to Molecular Structure of Sodium Sulfite

from Pete Andrews (p.l.andrews@bham.ac.uk)
A photo of molecular structure? Not possible in this universe I'm afraid.
All common organic developing agents have a Benzene ring (C6H6) basis. They commonly have OH (hydroxyl), NH (amine), or sometimes CH3 (methyl) radicles, in varying quantities, attached to all six bonds of the ring. The position of the various bonds is usually given in the chemical name n-, beta-, ortho, para, meta.... etcetera.
It's thought that the hydroxyl radicles are mainly responsible for the initial reaction with exposed silver halides.
Phenols are reaction products of Benzene, so many developers will be called Phenyl something-or-other.

Inorganic chemicals like Sodium Carbonate aren't usually described by their structure. This is because their reactions are predictable from the valencies of the individual elements, and they don't usually have isomers that react any differently. In fact the emphasis on structure is probably the big fundamental difference between organic and inorganic chemistry.
You need a good textbook on organic chemistry really.
Ascorbic acid, as used in Xtol, isn't based on a Benzene ring (I thought I'd throw that in as a curve ball).

(posted 8508 days ago)

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