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Chemical Name: Aluminum Borohydride.
Common Synonyms: Trihydroxyaluminum borohydride, Aluminum tetrahydroborate.
Appearance: Typically seen as a colorless or pale liquid.
Boiling Point: Around 44–45°C with rapid vaporization.
Odor: Slightly pungent or ether-like.
Main Uses: Often comes up in the lab as a solid hydrogen source for synthetic reactions, specialty reduction work, and sometimes as a hydrogen generation chemical.
CAS Number: 16940-66-2.
Main Risks: Highly flammable, can catch fire even with a small spark or mild heat. Vapors can travel and ignite at a distance. Severe irritant to skin, eyes, respiratory tract from both vapor and liquid contact. Can generate dangerous gases like hydrogen and boranes on contact with air or water. Risk for chemical burns. Reacts violently with water, alcohols, acids, and many oxidizing substances.
GHS Classification: Flammable liquid (Category 1), Skin corrosive (Category 1B), Serious eye damage (Category 1), Specific target organ toxicity (Single exposure, Category 3).
Pictograms: Flame, Corrosive, Exclamation Mark.
Precautionary Statements: Keep away from moisture, ignition sources, and incompatible materials. Use only if fully trained and aware of the emergency procedures.
Main Ingredient: Aluminum Borohydride, with purity usually greater than 95% in technical grades.
Impurities: Can contain minimal, undefined solvents or stabilizers, but supplier-to-supplier consistency varies. Any compositional deviation may increase risks.
Molecular Formula: Al(BH4)3.
Inhalation: Immediately move to fresh air. Support breathing as needed. Get urgent medical help if breathing becomes difficult or irregular.
Skin Contact: Remove contaminated clothing. Rinse skin fully with water for 15 minutes or more. Treat chemical burns as a serious emergency. Seek immediate medical attention.
Eye Contact: Rinse carefully under running water for at least 15 minutes, lifting eyelids throughout. Go straight to an emergency room.
Ingestion: Do not induce vomiting. Rinse mouth, then seek professional medical help right away.
Suitable Extinguishing Media: Use dry chemical powder or sand only. Never use water or foam; both cause violent reactions.
Specific Hazards: Decomposition releases highly flammable hydrogen, toxic boranes. Fire from this compound can spread rapidly. Vapors explode if mixed with air.
Protective Equipment: Full firefighter turnout gear with self-contained breathing apparatus. Avoid inhaling smoke or vapors. Approach from upwind.
Special Procedures: Cool surrounding containers with dry agent if safe to do so. Evacuate area immediately during uncontrolled fire.
Personal Precautions: Isolate area. Avoid breathing vapors. Eliminate all ignition sources. Wear chemical-resistant gloves, face shield, splash goggles, flame-retardant clothing, and respirator.
Environmental Precautions: Prevent entry to sewers, waterways, or soil. Report any significant release to safety authorities.
Cleanup Methods: Absorb spills with dry, inert material like sand (not water). Use spark-free tools and non-metallic shovels. Dispose of soaked material through hazardous waste channels.
Handling: Only open and transfer in approved chemical hoods or gloveboxes, using tools designed to prevent sparks. Static discharge can ignite this material.
Storage: Keep sealed in original airtight containers. Store under inert atmosphere (dry nitrogen/argon). Keep at temperature below room temperature, away from moisture, acids, oxidizers, and sources of ignition. Never store near common lab chemicals unless sure of total compatibility.
Exposure Limits: No established occupational exposure limits. Treat as highly hazardous only for controlled lab or industrial environments.
Engineering Controls: Use local exhaust ventilation. Work in chemical fume hoods for both transfers and handling. Maintain negative room pressure.
Personal Protective Equipment: Wear flame-resistant lab coat, splash goggles, chemical-resistant gloves, and a face shield. In absence of good ventilation, use full-face respirator. Always have an emergency eyewash and shower station.
Physical State: Typically a colorless to slightly yellow liquid.
Odor: Often described as ether-like, sometimes sweet or pungent.
Boiling Point: Around 44–45°C.
Melting Point: Below room temperature.
Flash Point: Below room temperature.
Solubility: Reacts and decomposes violently in water and aqueous solutions.
Vapor Pressure: High at ambient temperatures.
Density: Close to 0.9 g/cm³.
Chemical Stability: Unstable in air or moisture. Can break down rapidly, releasing hydrogen and borane gasses.
Reactivity: Extreme reactivity with water, acids, alcohols, oxidizing agents. Self-heating and spontaneous ignition risks are ever present.
Decomposition Products: Hydrogen gas, diborane, boron oxides, aluminum hydroxide under fire or high temperature.
Possible Effects: Causes major damage to tissue on contact due to strong corrosiveness. Can burn skin, eyes, lungs, and digestive tract severely in minutes.
Acute Exposure: Causes burning pain, blisters, ulceration, permanent eye damage or blindness. Vapors may cause drowsiness, dizziness, breathing problems, chest pain.
Chronic Exposure: No long-term data on repeated exposures in humans, but risk of chronic respiratory irritation, scarring, and possibly kidney or liver effects should not be ignored.
Carcinogenicity, Mutagenicity, Reproductive Toxicity: No direct evidence pointing to these chronic hazards, yet due care is needed for any chemical releasing boranes and hydrogen.
Aquatic Harm: Highly toxic to aquatic life. Even small quantities can lead to rapid die-off of fish, invertebrates, and aquatic plants due to high boron content and alkalinity.
Persistence: Decomposes quickly, but breakdown products like boron can remain in water and soil, leading to accumulative toxicity.
Mobility: Highly mobile in the environment if released, especially due to its volatility and reactivity.
Bioaccumulation: Significant risk for bioaccumulation in aquatic settings, especially affecting aquatic food chains.
Preferred Disposal: Send for treatment at specialized chemical waste centers. Neutralization requires expert knowledge and equipment, as uncontrolled reactions with water or common neutralizers can cause explosions.
Prohibited Disposal: Never pour into drains, sewers, or the environment. Do not landfill unless treated to remove hazard.
Container Disposal: Triple rinse empty containers with dry, inert solvent under inert atmosphere. Properly puncture and dispose of containers through hazardous waste protocols.
UN Number: Usually shipped as a regulated hazardous good, requiring UN 3138 (Aluminum borohydride, stabilized).
Transport Hazard Class: Classified as a Class 4.2 (spontaneously combustible substances), Class 4.3 (dangerous when wet).
Packing Group: I (high danger).
Special Transport Instructions: Ship only in sealed, pressure-tested drums or cylinders under inert atmosphere. Documentation, labeling, and driver training must meet all hazardous materials regulations. Emergency responders need access to proper firefighting and neutralization agents in case of accident.
Hazard Symbols: Complies with global GHS system. Labeling requires flame, corrosive, and environmental hazard pictograms.
Regulated Under: U.S. OSHA, Canadian WHMIS, European REACH and CLP regulations, and similar frameworks elsewhere, all treating it as a major laboratory and transport hazard.
Restrictions: Sales and handling restricted to trained professionals. Documentation and audit trails needed for purchase and disposal.
Worker Training: Required annual retraining under chemical hygiene and right-to-know laws. Emergency spill, fire, and first aid drills must include practice with this chemical.
