Sodium borohydride, also known as sodium tetrahydridoborate or sodium tetrahydroborate, is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula NaBH4 (sometimes written as Na[BH4]). It appears as a white crystalline solid, typically found in aqueous basic solutions. Sodium borohydride serves as a reducing agent and is commonly used in the papermaking and dye industries. Additionally, it acts as a reagent in organic synthesis. The compound was discovered in the 1940s by H. I. Schlesinger, who led a team exploring volatile uranium compounds. The results of this wartime research were declassified and published in 1953.
Sodium borohydride is an odourless, microcrystalline powder that appears white to gray-white and often forms lumps. It can be purified through recrystallization from warm diglyme at a temperature of 50 °C. Sodium borohydride is soluble in protic solvents, such as water and lower alcohols, and it reacts with these solvents to produce hydrogen gas (H2); however, these reactions occur at a relatively slow rate. For instance, complete decomposition of a methanol solution takes nearly 90 minutes at 20 °C. This compound decomposes in neutral or acidic aqueous solutions but remains stable at a pH of 14.
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