Potassium: discovery

In 1840, potassium was recognized as an essential element for plant growth (6). This discovery and the invention in 1861 of a process to recover potassium chloride from mbbish salt, a waste in German salt mines, started the modem potassium chemical industry (5). Potassium compounds produced throughout the world in 1993 amounted to ca 22 million metric tons as K O equivalent (4), down from ca 24 million t in 1992, having fallen annually from 32 million t in 1989 (2). Estimated production capacity was between 29 and 32 million t in 1992 (2). 

A striking example of the importance of narrowing the focus in research, which is what the concept of the parepisteme really implies, is the episode (retailed in Chapter 3, Section 3.1.1) of Eilhard Mitscherlich s research, in 1818, on the crystal forms of potassium phosphate and potassium arsenate, which led him, quite unexpectedly, to the discovery of isomorphism in crystal species and that, in turn, provided heavyweight evidence in favour of the then disputed atomic hypothesis. As so often happens, the general insight comes from the highly specific observation. 

A major advance in the art of effecting Birch reductions was the discovery by Wilds and Nelson that lithium reduced aromatic steroids much more efficiently than had hitherto been possible with sodium or potassium. The superiority originally was attributed to the somewhat higher reduction potential of lithium as compared to the other alkali metals. Later work showed that the following explanation is more probable. ... 

The alkali metals form a homogeneous group of extremely reactive elements which illustrate well the similarities and trends to be expected from the periodic classification, as discussed in Chapter 2. Their physical and chemical properties are readily interpreted in terms of their simple electronic configuration, ns, and for this reason they have been extensively studied by the full range of experimental and theoretical techniques. Compounds of sodium and potassium have been known from ancient times and both elements are essential for animal life. They are also major items of trade, commerce and chemical industry. Lithium was first recognized as a separate element at the beginning of the nineteenth eentury but did not assume major industrial importance until about 40 y ago. Rubidium and caesium are of considerable academic interest but so far have few industrial applications. Francium, the elusive element 87, has only fleeting existence in nature due to its very short radioactive half-life, and this delayed its discovery until 1939. 

Potassium hexachloromolybdate, 3, 1230 Potassium hexacyanoferrate discovery, 1, 3 Potassium ions biology, 6, 559 selective binding biology, 6, 551... 

G, Jiang H, Chen K. Structure-based discovery of potassium channel blockers from natural products virtual screening and electrophysiological assay testing. Chem Biol 2003 10 1103-13. 

There is no doubt that the element phosphorus occupies a special position in the family of the elements. The Earth s crust (including the oceans), which is about 16 km thick, contains only about 0.04% phosphorus, compared, for example, with 2.4% potassium however, phosphorus is present in all the substances necessary for living processes. It does not occur in elemental form because of its high affinity for oxygen and has been known since its discovery by the alchemist Henning Brand in Hamburg in the course of his search for the philosopher s stone. However, it was many years later that Antoine Lavoisier realized that this new, shining substance was a chemical element. 

Nuclear dating has been most helpful in establishing the history of the earth and of the moon and of the meteorites. The fact is, there is no other way of measuring their ages. Prior to the discovery of natural radioactivity in the late 19th century, indirect methods were used to estimate the age of the earth, but there were no real answers until the radioactivity of thorium, uranium, and potassium were discovered and we began to understand atomic structure and to realize that nuclear transformation was essentially independent of the chemical form. 

Another example of the fact that primary displacement of sulfonic esters is not always facile101,103-105 is the discovery that vigorous conditions were required for fluorination of l,2 3,5-di-0-isopropylidene-6-0-(methylsulfony])-a-D-galactofuranose with potassium fluoride dihydrate in methanol,85,88 and a comparatively long reaction-time was necessary for the fluorination of the 6-O-p-tolylsulfonyl derivative with tetrabutylammonium fluoride in acetonitrile.106... 

The electrolysis of aqueous solutions may not yield the desired products. Sir Humphry Davy (1778-1829) discovered the elements sodium and potassium by electrolyzing their molten salts. Before this discovery, Davy had electrolyzed aqueous solutions of sodium and potassium salts. He had not succeeded in reducing the metal ions to the pure metals at the cathode. Instead, his first experiments had produced hydrogen gas. Where did the hydrogen gas come from ... 

In early 1828, Friedrich Wohler (1800—1882) obtained yttrium metal by reducing yttrium chloride with potassium (YCl + K —> 2KC1 + Y). He is also given credit for yttriums discovery. 

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