These are washed with ammonium chloride until the filtrate is colourless, ignited, fused with caustic potash and nitre, the melt dissolved in water and nitric acid added to the solution until the colour of potassium ruthenate disappears.
It is also oxidized when fused with caustic potash and nitre, forming a ruthenate.
Fusion with caustic potash converts it into a mixture of potassium ruthenate and ruthenium sesquioxide, Ru 2 0 3, which is a black, almost insoluble powder.
The peroxide, Ru04, is formed when a solution of potassium ruthenate is decomposed by chlorine, or by oxidizing ruthenium compounds with potassium chlorate and hydrochloric acid, or with potassium permanganate and sulphuric acid.
Potassium ruthenium cyanide, K4Ru(CN) 6.3H 2 O, formed when potassium ruthenate is boiled with a solution of potassium cyanide, crystallizes in colourless plates which are soluble in water.