Uses of a Microwave Oven in Inorganic Chemistry

Research Synthesis

• Microwave ovens are often used for research synthesis in the field of inorganic chemistry. Research synthesis is the process of synthesizing inorganic chemical compounds for use in research and experimentation. On page 169 of his book "Microwave Heating As a Tool for Sustainable Chemistry," author Nicholas E. Leadbeater writes that tetraazacycletetradecinato, a form of metalated macrocycle, is an inorganic chemical commonly synthesized for research purses. A metalated macrocycle is a metal compound containing a ring composed of at least 12 atoms.

Industrial Synthesis

• The industrial synthesis process also uses microwave ovens. Industrial synthesis process is the process of creating inorganic chemical compounds for industrial applications. Microwave ovens are less commonly used in large-scale industrial chemical synthesis than they are in small-scale academic and laboratory-based synthesis. The most common use of microwaves in industrial synthesis is in the creation of coordination compounds -- those in which a central atom is used to bind together all of the atoms present in a compound.

End Goal

• Microwave ovens are sometimes the end goal of inorganic chemical applications rather than a means to an end. In such applications inorganic chemicals are synthesized for use in a microwave oven. An example of this can be found in iron hydroxides, which are inorganic chemical compounds created by adding alkali hydroxide iron salt in the absence of oxygen. Ferrimagnetic ferrite spinels and hexagonal ferrites, both of which are iron hydroxides, have magnetic properties that are exploited in the production of microwaves.

Experimentation

• Inorganic chemistry experiments use microwave ovens. In some such experiments inorganic compounds are heated using both microwave and conventional heat technologies. The behavior of the compound is then studied to ascertain whether or not significant differences in behavior and chemical properties are attributable to different forms of heat. Microwave ovens are also used in experimental solid-state chemical synthesis, which concerns large accumulations of atoms that assume crystalline form.