Synthesis and Handling
BF3 is manufactured by the reaction of boron oxides with hydrogen fluoride:
- B2O3 + 6 HF → 2 BF3 + 3 H2O
Typically the HF is produced in situ from sulfuric acid and fluorite (CaF2). Approximately 2300-4500 tonnes of boron trifluoride are produced every year.
On a laboratory scale, BF3 is produced by the thermal decomposition of diazonium salts:
- PhN2BF4 → PhF + BF3 + N2
Anhydrous boron trifluoride has a normal boiling temperature of −100.3 C and a critical temperature of −12.3 C, so that it can be stored as a refrigerated liquid only between those temperatures. Storage or transport vessels should be designed to withstand internal pressure, since a refrigeration system failure could cause pressures to rise to the critical pressure of 49.85 bar (4.985 MPa).
Boron trifluoride is corrosive. Suitable metals for equipment handling boron trifluoride include stainless steel, monel, and hastelloy. In presence of moisture it corrodes steel, including stainless steel. It reacts with polyamides. Polytetrafluoroethylene, polychlorotrifluoroethylene, polyvinylidene fluoride, and polypropylene show satisfactory resistance. The grease used in the equipment should be fluorocarbon based, as boron trifluoride reacts with the hydrocarbon-based ones.
Read more about this topic: Boron Trifluoride
Famous quotes containing the words synthesis and/or handling:
“The spider-mind acquires a faculty of memory, and, with it, a singular skill of analysis and synthesis, taking apart and putting together in different relations the meshes of its trap. Man had in the beginning no power of analysis or synthesis approaching that of the spider, or even of the honey-bee; but he had acute sensibility to the higher forces.”
—Henry Brooks Adams (1838–1918)
“That a good fit between parental handling and child temperament is vital to help children adapt to the imperatives of their society is a crucial concept that can be applied to other cultures.”
—Stella Chess (20th century)