Applications

Ammonium hydroxide is widely utilized as a leavening agent or acidity regulator in food production. It serves as a precursor to some alkyl amines and is also used in the tobacco industry for flavor enhancement and as a processing aid. During furniture making, it combines with tannic acid and is used to darken or stain wood by making it iron salts. In chemical laboratories, it used for qualitative inorganic analysis, as a complexant and as a base. It is used to clean gold, silver and platinum jewelry. It is an active component of Tollens’ reagent (consisting of a solution of silver nitrate and ammonia) and is used to determine the presence of aldehyde or alpha-hydroxy ketone functional groups.

Notes