Boron phosphate is an inorganic compound with the

chemical formula In chemistry, a chemical formula is a way of presenting information about the chemical proportions of atoms that constitute a particular chemical compound or molecule, using chemical element symbols, numbers, and sometimes also other symbol ...

BPO₄. The simplest way of producing it is the reaction of

phosphoric acid Phosphoric acid (orthophosphoric acid, monophosphoric acid or phosphoric(V) acid) is a colorless, odorless phosphorus-containing solid, and inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is commonly encountered as an 85% aqueous solution, w ...

and

boric acid Boric acid, more specifically orthoboric acid, is a compound of boron, oxygen, and hydrogen with formula . It may also be called hydrogen borate or boracic acid. It is usually encountered as colorless crystals or a white powder, that dissolve ...

. It is a white infusible solid that evaporates above 1450 °C.Corbridge DEC 2013, ''Phosphorus: Chemistry, Biochemistry and Technology,'' 6th ed., CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida,

Synthesis

Boron phosphate is synthesized from

and

at a temperature range from 80 °C to 1200 °C. The relatively cold treatment produces a white amorphous powder, which is converted to a

microcrystalline A microcrystalline material is a crystallized substance or rock that contains small crystals visible only through microscopic examination. There is little agreement on the range of crystal sizes that should be regarded as microcrystalline, but th ...

product when heated at about 1000 °C for 2 hours. The main reaction of the process is: :H₃BO₃ + H₃PO₄ → BPO₄ + 3 H₂O New ways of synthesizing the compound have also been reported, such as

hydrothermal Hydrothermal circulation in its most general sense is the circulation of hot water (Ancient Greek ὕδωρ, ''water'',Liddell, H.G. & Scott, R. (1940). ''A Greek-English Lexicon. revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones. with th ...

and microwave synthesis. Due to the particular industrial interest of boron phosphate, other methods are used as well: *

Phosphoric acid Phosphoric acid (orthophosphoric acid, monophosphoric acid or phosphoric(V) acid) is a colorless, odorless phosphorus-containing solid, and inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is commonly encountered as an 85% aqueous solution, w ...

and triethyl borate * Triethyl phosphate and

boron trichloride Boron trichloride is the inorganic compound with the formula BCl3. This colorless gas is a reagent in organic synthesis. It is highly reactive toward water. Production and structure Boron reacts with halogens to give the corresponding trihalides. ...

Diammonium phosphate Diammonium phosphate (DAP; IUPAC name diammonium hydrogen phosphate; chemical formula (NH4)2(HPO4) is one of a series of water-soluble ammonium phosphate salts that can be produced when ammonia reacts with phosphoric acid. Solid diammonium phosp ...

acid and

borax Borax is a salt ( ionic compound), a hydrated borate of sodium, with chemical formula often written . It is a colorless crystalline solid, that dissolves in water to make a basic solution. It is commonly available in powder or granular for ...

heated to 1000 °C *

Boric acid Boric acid, more specifically orthoboric acid, is a compound of boron, oxygen, and hydrogen with formula . It may also be called hydrogen borate or boracic acid. It is usually encountered as colorless crystals or a white powder, that dissolve ...

and

phosphorus pentoxide Phosphorus pentoxide is a chemical compound with molecular formula P4 O10 (with its common name derived from its empirical formula, P2O5). This white crystalline solid is the anhydride of phosphoric acid. It is a powerful desiccant and dehydra ...

(hydrothermal)

Structure

If obtained at pressure, the ordinary structure is

isomorphous In mathematics, an isomorphism is a structure-preserving mapping between two structures of the same type that can be reversed by an inverse mapping. Two mathematical structures are isomorphic if an isomorphism exists between them. The word is ...

with the β-

cristobalite Cristobalite is a mineral polymorph of silica that is formed at very high temperatures. It has the same chemical formula as quartz, SiO2, but a distinct crystal structure. Both quartz and cristobalite are polymorphs with all the members of the ...

, while subjecting it to high pressure is obtained a compound isomorphic with α-

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica ( silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical ...

. The structure of AlPO₄,

berlinite Berlinite ( aluminium phosphate, chemical formula AlPO4 or Al(PO4)) is a rare high-temperature hydrothermal or metasomatic phosphate mineral. It has the same crystal structure as quartz with a low temperature polytype isostructural with α–quar ...

, is

with α-

Applications

It is used as a catalyst for

dehydration In physiology, dehydration is a lack of total body water, with an accompanying disruption of metabolic processes. It occurs when free water loss exceeds free water intake, usually due to exercise, disease, or high environmental temperature. Mil ...

and other reactions in organic synthesis. Also, it serves as a source of phosphates for exchange reactions in the solid state to obtain metal phosphates.

References

Boron compounds Phosphates {{Inorganic-compound-stub