Thenard in 1808 by heating boron trioxide with potassium, in an iron tube.
Boron hydride has probably never been isolated in the pure condition; on heating boron trioxide with magnesium filings, a magnesium boride Mg 3 B 2 is obtained, and if this be decomposed with dilute hydrochloric acid a very evil-smelling gas, consisting of a mixture of hydrogen and boron hydride, is obtained.
Boron chloride BC1 3 results when amorphous boron is heated in chlorine gas, or more readily, on passing a stream of chlorine over a heated mixture of boron trioxide and charcoal, the volatile product being condensed in a tube surrounded by a freezing mixture.
It can also be prepared by heating borimide B2(NH)31 or by heating boron trioxide with a metallic cyanide.
Tantalum pentoxide, Ta205, is a white amorphous infusible powder, or it may be crystallized by strongly heating, or by fusing with boron trioxide or microcosmic salt.
