Boron is a chemical element with the symbol B and atomic number 5. In its crystalline form it is a brittle, dark, lustrous metalloid; in its amorphous form it is a brown powder. As the lightest element of the boron group it has three valence electrons for forming covalent bonds, resulting in many compounds such as boric acid, the mineral sodium borate, and the ultra-hard crystals of boron carbide and boron nitride.
Boric acid, more specifically orthoboric acid, is a compound of boron, oxygen, and hydrogen with formula B(OH)3. It may also be called hydrogen orthoborate, trihydroxidoboron or boracic acid. It is usually encountered as colorless crystals or a white powder, that dissolves in water, and occurs in nature as the mineral sassolite. It is a weak acid that yields various borate anions and salts, and can react with alcohols to form borate esters.
A borate is any of a range of boron oxyanions, anions containing boron and oxygen, such as orthoborate BO3−3, metaborate BO−2, or tetraborate B4O2−7; or any salt of such anions, such as sodium metaborate, Na+[BO2]− and borax (Na+)2[B4O7]2−. The name also refers to esters of such anions, such as trimethyl borate B(OCH3)3.
Borax is a salt, a hydrated or anhydrous borate of sodium, with the chemical formula Na2H20B4O17. It is a colorless crystalline solid, that dissolves in water to make a basic solution.
Ulexite (NaCaB5O6(OH)6·5H2O, hydrated sodium calcium borate hydroxide), sometimes known as TV rock or television stone, is a mineral occurring in silky white rounded crystalline masses or in parallel fibers. The natural fibers of ulexite conduct light along their long axes, by internal reflection. Ulexite was named for the German chemist Georg Ludwig Ulex (1811–1883) who first discovered it.
Boron deficiency is a common deficiency of the micronutrient boron in plants. It is the most widespread micronutrient deficiency around the world and causes large losses in crop production and crop quality. Boron deficiency affects vegetative and reproductive growth of plants, resulting in inhibition of cell expansion, death of meristem, and reduced fertility.
Alkalinity (from Arabic: القلوي, romanized: al-qaly, lit. 'ashes of the saltwort') is the capacity of water to resist acidification. It should not be confused with basicity, which is an absolute measurement on the pH scale. Alkalinity is the strength of a buffer solution composed of weak acids and their conjugate bases. It is measured by titrating the solution with an acid such as HCl until its pH changes abruptly, or it reaches a known endpoint where that happens. Alkalinity is expressed in units of concentration, such as meq/L (milliequivalents per liter), μeq/kg (microequivalents per kilogram), or mg/L CaCO3 (milligrams per liter of calcium carbonate). Each of these measurements corresponds to an amount of acid added as a titrant.
Boron trioxide or diboron trioxide is the oxide of boron with the formula B2O3. It is a colorless transparent solid, almost always glassy (amorphous), which can be crystallized only with great difficulty. It is also called boric oxide or boria. It has many important industrial applications, chiefly in ceramics as a flux for glazes and enamels and in the production of glasses.
Sodium perborate is chemical compound whose chemical formula may be written NaH2BO4, Na2H4B2O8, or, more properly, [Na+]2[B2O4(OH)4]2−. Its name is sometimes abbreviated as PBS.
Lithium metaborate is a chemical compound of lithium, boron, and oxygen with elemental formula LiBO2. It is often encountered as a hydrate, LiBO2·nH2O, where n is usually 2 or 4. However, these formulas do not describe the actual structure of the solids.
Rosocyanine and rubrocurcumin are two red colored materials, which are formed by the reaction between curcumin and borates.
Tetrahydroxyborate is an inorganic anion with the chemical formula [BH4O4]− or [B(OH)4]−. It contributes no colour to tetrahydroxyborate salts. It is found in the mineral hexahydroborite, Ca(B(OH)4)2 · 2 H2O, originally formulated CaB2O4 · 6 H2O. It is one of the boron oxoanions, and acts as a weak base. The systematic names are tetrahydroxyboranuide (substitutive) and tetrahydroxidoborate(1−) (additive). It can be viewed as the conjugate base of boric acid.
Calcium borate (Ca3(BO3)2). It can be prepared by reacting calcium metal with boric acid. The resulting precipitate is calcium borate. A hydrated form occurs naturally as the minerals colemanite, nobleite and priceite.
Disodium octaborate is a borate of sodium, a chemical compound of sodium, boron, and oxygen — a salt with elemental formula Na2B8O13 or (Na+)2[B8O13]2−, also written as Na2O·4B2O3. It is a colorless crystalline solid, soluble in water.
Barium borate is an inorganic compound, a borate of barium with a chemical formula BaB2O4 or Ba(BO2)2. It is available as a hydrate or dehydrated form, as white powder or colorless crystals. The crystals exist in the high-temperature α phase and low-temperature β phase, abbreviated as BBO; both phases are birefringent, and BBO is a common nonlinear optical material.
Borate buffered saline is a buffer used in some biochemical techniques to maintain the pH within a relatively narrow range. Borate buffers have an alkaline buffering capacity in the 8–10 range. Boric acid has a pKa of 9.14 at 25 °C.
A nuclear reactor coolant is a coolant in a nuclear reactor used to remove heat from the nuclear reactor core and transfer it to electrical generators and the environment. Frequently, a chain of two coolant loops are used because the primary coolant loop takes on short-term radioactivity from the reactor.
Boron phosphate is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula BPO4. The simplest way of producing it is the reaction of phosphoric acid and boric acid. It is a white infusible solid that evaporates above 1450 °C.
In inorganic chemistry, an orthoborate is a polyatomic anion with formula [BO3]3− or a salt containing the anion; such as trisodium orthoborate (Na+)3[BO3]3−. It is one of several boron oxoanions, or borates.
Trisodium borate is a chemical compound of sodium, boron, and oxygen, with formula Na3BO3, or (Na+)3[BO3]3−. It is a sodium salt of the orthoboric acid B(OH)3.
