Mike,(posted 8075 days ago)I don't know what is your intention, but if you are trying to make Gainer's metol-ascorbate-carbonate developer, avoid that substitution for best result. Hydroquinone will be 50% dissociated around pH of 10, and that's about the pH carbonate will get. However, I suggest experimenting with D-76 (assuming the published formula, ID-11 more likely a better candidate here) and 5g ascorbic acid, 10 to 12g borax added to it, and dilute 1+1 to 1+4 from there. You can do similar thing with D-76R which has extra borax already in the package so you can add about 10g ascorbic acid per liter of D-76R and then dilute 1+3 or more for use. I haven't tried these myself because I have metol at hand, but they are similar to what I use - ascorbate version of D-76.
I think British people still spell sulphite... and I was already doing darkroom work when I took series of chemistry classes :-)