Interactions in the solid state. I: Interactions of sodium bicarbonate and tartaric acid under compressed conditions.

The interaction of NaHCO3 and tartaric acid in powder mixtures and compressed tablets has been studied. It has been found that in an open system the reaction is simply a decarboxylation of NaHCO3 and that the effect of compression on the reaction rate can be attributed to the brittle fracture (and subsequent surface area increase) that occurs on compaction. In a closed system the decomposition of the mixture is an interaction between the acid and the base, and it is mediated by the amount of moisture in the system. This latter is a product of reaction, and a suitable kinetic scheme is described for this. It is shown that "curing" the sodium bicarbonate by heating it to, e.g., 90 degrees C stabilizes the system by virtue of the formation of surface Na2CO3, which acts as a moisture scavenger.