Lead chromate (CAS: 7758-97-6)

Lead(II) chromate (PbCrO4) is a chemical compound, a chromate of lead. It has a vivid yellow color

and is practically insoluble in water, and as a result, is used in paints under the name chrome yellow. It is

commonly made in the laboratory by reacting a lead(II) salt (such as lead(II) nitrate) with a chromate or

dichromate salt (such as potassium chromate or potassium dichromate) in solution in water, producing a

very deep yellow to orange precipitate of lead(II) chromate.

Lead(II) chromate may also be known as chrome yellow, chromic acid lead(II) salt, canary chrome yellow

40-2250, chrome green, chrome green UC61, chrome green UC74, chrome green UC76, chrome lemon,

crocoite, dianichi chrome yellow G, lemon yellow, king’s yellow, Leipzig yellow, lemon yellow, Paris yellow

, pigment green 15, plumbous chromate, pure lemon chrome L3GS, and various other names. The mineral

crocoite, occurring as orange-yellow prismatic crystals, is a moderately rare mineral known from the oxidation

zones of such Pb ore beds, that were affected by chromate-bearing solutions, coming from the oxidation of primary

Cr minerals (chromite) of the nearby (ultra)mafic rocks.

Lead(II) chromate can be destroyed by strong reducing agents, combustibles, and organic materials.

Applications

Lead(II) chromate is used in some pyrotechnic compositions, especially delay compositions, as an oxidizer. Up to

the late 1800s it was used to impart a bright yellow color to some types of candy. It has also been used in the

paint to color school buses.(Chrome Yellow)

Previously, its use was wider. Lead(II) chromate and “white lead”, or lead(II) carbonate, were the most

common lead-based paint pigments.