Elemental boron reactions with

Boron, atomic number 5, occurs naturally as two isotopes, and B, with natural abundances of 19.9% and 80.1%, respectively, (a) In what ways do the two isotopes differ from each other Does the electronic configuration of differ from that of B (b) Draw the orbital diagram for an atom of B. Which electrons are the valence electrons (c) Indicate three major ways in which the Is electrons in boron differ from its 2s electrons, (d) Elemental boron reacts with fluorine to form BF3, a gas. Write a balanced chemical equation for the reaction of solid boron with fluorine gas. (e) AHf for Bp3(g) is —1135.6 kl/mol Calculate the standard enthalpy change in the reaction of boron with fluorine, (f) When BCI3, also a gas at room temperature, comes into contact with water, the two react to form hydrochloric acid and boric add, H3BO3, a very weak acid in water. Write a balanced net ionic equation for this reaction. 

Lower Oxides. A number of hard, refractory suboxides have been prepared either as by-products of elemental boron production (1) or by the reaction of boron and boric acid at high temperatures and pressures (39). It appears that the various oxides represented as B O, B O, B22O2, and B23O2 may all be the same material ia varying degrees of purity. A representative crystalline substance was determined to be rhombohedral boron suboxide, B12O2, usually mixed with traces of boron or B2O3 (39). A study has been made of the mechanical properties of this material, which exhibits a hardness... 

Preparation. Hexagonal boron nitride can be prepared by heating boric oxide with ammonia, or by heating boric oxide, boric acid, or its salts with ammonium chloride, alkaU cyanides, or calcium cyanamide at atmospheric pressure. Elemental nitrogen does not react with boric oxide even in the presence of carbon, though it does react with elemental boron at high temperatures. Boron nitride obtained from the reaction of boron trichloride or boron trifluoride with ammonia is easily purified. 

Covalent fluondes of group 3 and group 5 elements (boron, tin, phosphorus, antimony, etc ) are widely used m organic synthesis as strong Lewis acids Boron trifluoride etherate is one of the most common reagents used to catalyze many organic reactions. A representative example is its recent application as a catalyst in the cycloadditions of 2-aza-l,3-dienes with different dienophiles [14] Boron trifluoride etherate and other fluonnated Lewis acids are effective activators of the... 

By the middle of the nineteenth century more than 60 elements were known with new ones continuing to be discovered. For each of these elements, chemists attempted to determine its atomic weight, density, specific heat, and other properties. The result was a collection of facts, which lacked rational order, Mendeleev noticed that if the elements were arranged by their atomic weights, then valencies and other properties tended to recur periodically. However, there were gaps in the pattern and in a paper of 1871 Mendeleev asserted that these corresponded to elements that existed but had not yet been discovered. He named three of these elements eka-aluminium, eka-boron and eka-silicon and gave detailed descriptions of their properties. The reaction of the scientific world was sceptical. But then in 1874 Lecoq de Boisbaudran found an... 

Two approaches have been used in the synthesis of these types of compounds. Small boron-phosphorus ring compounds can serve as building blocks, and addition and elimination reactions with other main group elements can then extend the cage structure (see Schemes 23 and 24, Section 12.12.6.4.5). Alternatively, an unsaturated carbenoid fragment can be added to the bicyclic fragment as illustrated in Scheme 31 <1998IC490>. 

CARBIDES. A binary solid compound of carbon and another element. The most familiar carbides are those of calcium, tungsten, silicon, boron, and iron (cemcntitc) Two factors have an important bearing on the properties of carbides (1) the difference in electronegativity between carbon and the second elemenl. and (2) whether the second element is a transition metal. Saltlike carbides of alkali metals are obtained by reaction with acetylene. Those ohlained from silver, copper, and mercury sails are explosive. See also Carbon and Iron Metals, Alloys, and Steels. 

A variety of polymers contain the element boron.42,44,52 60 One of the simplest consists of chains of boron fluoride, of repeat unit -BF-, and can be prepared by the reaction of elemental boron with boron trifluoride at high temperatures. The polymer is a rubbery elastomer, but it has been little studied because of its hydrolytic instability and tendency to ignite spontaneously in air.42 However, a variety of other structures are formed with a number of metals, for example chains with Fe, ladders with Ta, sheets with Ti, tetragonal structures with U, and cubic structures with Ca and Ar. Boron also forms chains that are analogues of poly(dimethylsiloxane), with repeat unit -BCH-O-42... 

In the previous chapter we described the special chemistry of sulfur, and you have previously met that of phosphorus. These two elements may be thought of as analogues of oxygen and nitrogen but many reactions are possible with S and P that are quite impossible with O and N. This chapter will concentrate on the organic chemistry of three other main group elements boron, which is unusual in this context because it is a first row element, and silicon and tin, which are in the same group as... 

Fig. 8.3 Warren R. Roper (born in 1938) studied chemistry at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, and completed his Ph.D. in 1963 under the supervision of Cuthbert J. Wilkins. He then undertook postdoctoral research with James P. Collman at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the US, and returned to New Zealand as Lecturer in Chemistry at the University of Auckland in 1966. In 1984, he was appointed Professor of Chemistry at the University of Auckland and became Research Professor of Chemistry at the same institution in 1999. His research interests are widespread with the emphasis on synthetic and structural inorganic and organometallic chemistry. Special topics have been low oxidation state platinum group metal complexes, oxidative addition reactions, migratory insertion reactions, metal-carbon multiple bonds, metallabenzenoids and more recently compounds with bonds between platinum group metals and the main group elements boron, silicon, and tin. His achievements were recognized by the Royal Society of Chemistry through the Organometallic Chemistry Award and the Centenary Lectureship. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand and of the Royal Society London, and was awarded the degree Doctor of Science (honoris causa) by the University of Canterbury in 1999 (photo by courtesy from W. R. R.)...

Diboron tetrafluoride can be prepared from BF3 and elemental boron at 1850°C, a reaction that first produces BF (a compound that can be isolated by condensation at -196°C), which reacts with BF3 to give B2F4 and unstable higher boron fluorides such as B Fi2. 

More than one boride phase can be formed with most metals, and in many cases a continuous series of solid solutions may be formed. Several methods have been used for the relatively large-scale preparation of metal borides. One that is commonly used is carbon reduction of boric oxide and the appropriate metal oxide at temperatures up to 2000 °C. Fused salt electrolysis of borax or boric oxide and a metal oxide at 700 1000 °C have also been used. Small-scale methods available include direct reaction of the elements at temperatures above 1000 °C and the reaction of elemental boron with metal oxides at temperatures approaching 2000 °C. One commercial use of borides is in titanium boride-aluminum nitride crucibles or boats for evaporation of aluminum by resistance heating in the aluminizing process, and for rare earth hexaborides as electronic cathodes. Borides have also been used in sliding electrical contacts and as cathodes in HaU cells for aluminum processing. 

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