The two reactions added to the scheme and highlighted below illustrate how knowledge of Group 1 and 2 and hydrogen chemistry can contribute to an understanding of the reactions used to prepare pure boron from B2O3.
BCl3
  


B + HCl
BF3




BN + H2




B2O3

B + MgO
It is critical to the pure boron production that, unlike most Group 1 and 2 chlorides, the compound BCl3 is volatile and can be purified by distillation. The next section of this file highlights how the chemical properties of BCl3 and BF3 also differ from those of the Group 1 and 2 chlorides.
Dr Sheila Woodgate
© The University of Auckland 2002