Hydroxide
The hydroxides of the transition metals and post-transition metals usually have the metal in the +2 (M = Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn) or +3 (M = Fe, Ru, Rh, Ir) oxidation state. None are soluble in water, and many are poorly defined. One complicating feature of the hydroxides is their tendency to undergo further condensation to the oxides, a process called olation. Hydroxides of metals in the +1 oxidation state are also poorly defined or unstable. For example, silver hydroxide Ag(OH) decomposes spontaneously to the oxide (AgO). Copper(I) and gold(I) hydroxides are also unstable, although stable adducts of CuOH and AuOH are known. The polymeric compounds M(OH) and M(OH) are in general prepared by increasing the pH of an aqueous solutions of the corresponding metal cations until the hydroxide precipitates out of solution. On the converse, the hydroxides dissolve in acidic solution. Zinc hydroxide Zn(OH) is amphoteric, forming the tetrahydroxidozincate ion in strongly alkaline solution.
Aluminium hydroxide
Four polymorphs of aluminium hydroxide exist, all based on the common combination of one aluminium atom and three hydroxide molecules into different crystalline arrangements that determine the appearance and properties of the compound. The four combinations are:
All polymorphs are composed of layers of octahedral aluminium hydroxide units with the aluminium atom in the centre and the hydroxyl groups on the sides, with hydrogen bonds holding the layers together. The polymorphisms vary in how the layers stack together, with the arrangements of the molecules and layers determined by the acidity, presence of ions (including salt) and the surface of the minerals the substance forms on. Under most conditions, gibbsite is the most chemically stable form of aluminium hydroxide. All forms of Al(OH) crystals are hexagonal.