The group 13 elements

[link] lists the derivation of the names of the Group 13 (IIIA) elements.

Discovery

Boron

Borax (a mixture of Na ₂ B ₄ O ₇ .4H ₂ O and Na ₂ B ₄ O ₇ .10H ₂ O) was known for thousands of years. In Tibet it was known by the Sanskrit name of tincal . Borax glazes were used in China in 300 AD, and the writings of the Arabic alchemist Geber ( [link] ) appear to mention it in 700 AD. However, it is known that Marco Polo brought some borax glazes back to Italy in the 13th century. In 1600 Agricola ( [link] ) in his treatise De Re Metallica reported the use of borax as a flux in metallurgy.

Boron was not recognized as an element until its isolation by Sir Humphry Davy ( [link] ), Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac ( [link] ) and Louis Jacques Thénard ( [link] ) in 1808 through the reaction of boric acid and potassium. Davy called the element boracium . Jöns Jakob Berzelius ( [link] ) identified boron as an element in 1824.

Aluminum

Ancient Greeks and Romans used aluminum salts as dyeing mordants and as astringents for dressing wounds; alum (KAl(SO ₄ ) ₂ .12H ₂ O) is still used as a styptic (an antihaemorrhagic agent). In 1808, Sir Humphry Davy ( [link] ) identified the existence of a metal base of alum, which he at first termed alumium and later aluminum.

The metal was first produced in 1825 (in an impure form) by Hans Christian Ørsted ( [link] ) by the reaction of anhydrous aluminum chloride with potassium amalgam. Friedrich Wöhler ( [link] ) repeated the experiments of Ørsted but suggested that Ørsted had only isolated potassium. By the use of potassium, [link] , he is credited with isolating aluminum in 1827. While Wöhler is generally credited with isolating aluminum, Ørsted should also be given credit.

In 1846 Henri Deville ( [link] ) improved Wöhler's method, and described his improvements in particular the use of sodium in place of the expensive potassium