by wk396 on Thu Mar 04, 2010 5:57 am
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Sodium borohydride, also known as sodium tetrahydridoborate, is an inorganic compound with the formula NaBH4. This white solid, usually encountered as a powder, is a versatile reducing agent that finds wide application in chemistry, both in the laboratory and on a technical scale. Large amounts are used for bleaching wood pulp. The compound is insoluble in ether, and soluble in glyme solvents, methanol and water, but reacts with the latter two in the absence of base.
The compound was discovered in the 1940s by H. I. Schlesinger, who led a team that developed metal borohydrides for wartime applications.Their work was classified and published only in 1953. Sodium borohydride is an odorless white to gray-white microcrystalline powder which often forms lumps. It is soluble in water, with which it reacts vigorously.
