Copper acetylides

Abstract Following an introduction and a brief review of published work on copper acetylides, investigations into conditions of formation and properties of copper acetylides are described. Parts I and II deal with formation from acid and alkaline, cuprous and cupric solutions. Part III concerns the formation of acetylides on the surfaces of copper and copper alloys under varying conditions. Although acetylides cannot be formed in cupric solutions above a certain acid concentration, they can be formed on the surfaces of copper and brasses immersed in such solutions even if the acidity is greatly increased. Explosive acetylides can be formed not only on copper and high‐copper alloys in ammoniacal acetylene atmospheres, but also on copper and brasses containing 50% copper or more, when these have been contaminated with acids or caustic alkalis. Methods are given for the detection of small amounts of copper acetylide.