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Boric acid (from Latin acidum Boricum, boric acid), chemical formula – H3BO3 or B(OH)3 is a weak colorless crystalline inorganic acid corresponding to the highest oxidation degree of boron (+3). Oxygen-containing substance in the form of flakes, odorless. It has a layered triclinic lattice, in which the acid molecules are connected by hydrogen bonds into flat layers, the layers are connected by intermolecular bonds, the length of which is 272 pm.
Boric acid was first synthesized by the German chemist Wilhelm Homberg in 1702 as a volatile heating the mineral borax and iron sulfate and then repeatedly purifying the resulting residue of substance by sublimation. Homberg described its action as a sedative and called the resulting substance “volatile sedative element salt”. The composition of boric acid was established in 1808 with the discovery of the sulfuric boron
General Characteristics
Chemical formula: H3BO3
Rac. formula: B(OH)3
Physical Properties
Condition: SOLID
Molar mass: 61.83 g/mol
Density: 1.435 (+15 °C) g/cm³
Thermal Properties
Melting point: 170.9 °C, 444 K, 340°F
Boiling point: (573 K, 572 °F) 300 °C
Additional Information
Finding in Nature: In nature, free boric acid is found as the mineral sassolite, in hot springs and mineral waters.
Physical properties: Boric acid is a mono-basic Lewis acid often used as an insecticide, antiseptic, flame retardant, neutron absorber, or precursor for other chemical formulations. When heated, orthoboric acid loses water and first changes to metaboronic acid, then to tetraboric acid H2B4O7. On further heating, it dehydrates to boric anhydride.
Chemical properties: Aqueous solutions of boric acid are a mixture of polyboronic acids of the general formula H3m-2nBnO3m-n. It is found in nature in the form of the mineral sassolite. Boric acid exhibits very weak acidic properties. It is relatively insoluble in water.
Application:
- In nuclear reactors as a neutron absorber dissolved in the nuclear reactor coolant.
- Boron fertilizer.
- In laboratories for the preparation of buffer solutions.
- In medicine – as an independent disinfectant for adults, as well as in the form of a 2% solution – for washing the skin after exposure to alkalis.
Various combined preparations (ATX group DOSAD) are produced on the basis of boric acid, for example, Teymurov paste.
In film photography – as part of fine-grained developer and acid fixatives to create a weak acid medium.
In the food industry it is registered as food additive E284 (in Russia this additive is not included in the list of approved additives).
In jewelry, etc. technology – as a component of fluxes for hard (high-temperature) soldering, for example, boric acid and borax 1:1.
In foundry production – binder for acidic furnace lining, component of jet protection against oxidation when casting magnesium alloys.
In the home – extermination of cockroaches, ants, bedbugs.
In the production of ceramics, fiber optics, fiberglass, glass.
As a fire retardant for the protection of wood.
As part of electrolytes for copper plating and nickel plating.