Hydrochloride

Hydrochloride

In chemistry, hydrochlorides are salts resulting, or regarded as resulting, from the reaction of hydrochloric acid with an organic base (mostly amines). This is also known as muriate, derived from hydrochloric acid's ancient name: muriatic acid.

For example, reaction of pyridine (C₅H₅N) with hydrochloric acid (HCl) yields pyridine hydrochloride (C₅H₅N·HCl). Even though this style of formula is often used for denoting the hydrochlorides, the dot incorrectly implies that the two molecules are weakly bonded together; rather, what is present is the salt C₅H₅NH+ Cl- with the correct chemical name pyridinium chloride.

Hydrochloric salts are most often referred to by using the name of the base, then simply tagging on hydrochloride or HCl. For example, while crack cocaine is the freebase of cocaine, the salt form is often referred to as cocaine HCl.