Borate Esters
Since I finally got a digital camera of my own (this means that there should be quite a few updates coming provided I have time), I decided to take some pictures of burning borate esters. The ones I used tonight were trimethyl borate, triethyl borate, and triisopropyl borate.
Trimethyl borate:
The first shown here is the trimethyl borate. It was produced simply by placing a small spoonful of boric acid (no measurements here) in about 25 ml of methanol. This was then mixed around a bit and lit by placing a match in the liquid. It burns with a beautiful green flame.
Here are two pictures of it burning:
Triethyl borate:
Next up was triethyl borate. This was produced in almost the same fashion, except acid was added as acid catalyzes esterification reactions. I had some dilute sulfuric acid right near me so that was used instead of the concentrated sulfuric acid I would have preferred to use. But I used the dilute as I was just wanting to use the camera. It didn't work as well as the trimethyl borate and there were three visible colours of the burning flame that seemed to be struggling to outdo each other - red/orange, blue, and green. The green came out better as the burning progressed but it was still not as vibrant as from the trimethyl borate.
Here are three pictures of it burning:
Triisopropyl borate:
And last (and least?) was triisopropyl borate. I produced this in the same way as the trimethyl, thus lacking the acid catalyst. I would go out and do it again now with the catalyst, but it's cold and I'm too lazy at the moment. It burned mostly red/orange with distinctly visible bits of green at the edge of the flames. A matchstick dipped into the liquid did burn with a greenish tinge. When the flame was fanned by the wind the green color was really seen to come out, although not as strong as the other two esters. There are no pictures right now, but there will be if I get around to testing it again sometime soon.
Well that's it for the time being on borate esters, but hopefully there will be more to come later.
