Heated with sulphuric acid and with nitric acid it is oxidized to boric acid, whilst on fusion with alkaline carbonates and hydroxides it gives a borate of the alkali metal.
Many organic compounds of boron are known; thus, from the action of the trichloride on ethyl alcohol or on methyl alcohol, ethyl borate B(OC2H5)3 and methyl borate B(OCH 3) 3 are obtained.
The borate, Pb 2 B 6 0 1 u 4H20, is obtained as a white precipitate by adding borax to a lead salt; this on heating with strong ammonia gives PbB2044H2.
For sodium nitrite see Nitrogen; for sodium nitrate see Saltpetre; for the cyanide see Prussic Acid; and for the borate see Borax.
Enormous quantities of borax, already exploited, and of nitrate of soda, are known to be present in the surrounding country, the former as almost pure borate of lime in Tertiary lake sediments.
