الصفحة 1
الصفحة 1
Group 13 Chemistry III : Industrial Applications
The present issue of Structure and Bonding is dedicated to applied group 13 chemistry, particularly for the elements boron and aluminum, and to a lesser degree gallium and indium. Although boron is a trace element (0.01 g kg 1) in the earth's crust, it has been concentrated in a few locations by geochemical processes and is relatively easy to mine as borax. Aluminum, on the other hand, is the most abundant metal in the earth's crust (82 g kg 1) and dispersed widely throughout the globe. In the chapter Schubert explains the close relationship between the basic properties of the boron compounds and their associated uses. The remaining four chapters focus, to some degree, on aluminum. Since a great deal of literature exists in this area, these chapters are more focused on areas of emerging utility, and contain a great deal of fundamental information. Uhl's contribution in Chapter 2 provides basic synthesis and structural information for aluminum and gallium hydrazides. These types of compounds are being explored as potential molecular precursors to metal nitrides such as the important blue green laser material gallium nitride.
Group 13 Chemistry I : Fundamental New Developments
Depending on the use of the elements, the resulting work can be described under any heading of chemistry. The group 13 elements have been special in this regard due to the very unique characters of the constituent elements. Thus, there is a dramatic change in the properties of the elements when proceeding through the series, B, A1, Ga, In, T1. This difference is one of the main reasons why these elements have seen, and continue to see, such widespread usage in such disparate applications as organic synthesis, electronic and structural materials, and catalysis, to name but a few.
