Sodium borohydride is soluble in water, but it reacts with water in absence of base. When dissolved in water, hydrogen gas is formed as a reaction by-product. Hydrogen gas is extremely flammable. How can I prepare 0.6 M solution of that (340 mg NaBH4 in 10 cc DI water)? Is it safe?
I think not. Because NaBH4 reacts with water and alcohols, with evolution of hydrogen gas and formation of the corresponding borate, the reaction being especially fast at low pH. Nevertheless, an alcohol, often methanol or ethanol, is generally the solvent of choice for sodium borohydride reductions of ketones and aldehydes.
@sina safavi
Dear sina, thank you for your response. Maybe I can use ethanol insted of water!!
Hi Fatemeh Sousani ,
Of course, you can do it but you need to keep the water at a basic range (see Figure to explore the stability time of NaBH4 at different pH values). However, at room temperature, 1.0 N NaOH solution was considered appropriate to meet the stability requirements for the borohydride solutions during the long-term storage with a degree of hydrolysis equal to 0.01% NaBH4/h (see Article Stability of alkaline aqueous solutions of sodium borohydride
).For preparing a stable solution of NaBH4, you need to perform the following steps:
1- prepare 1.0 N NaOH solution.
2- cool the solution with an ice-water bath.
3- add the dry granulated NaBH4 to the NaOH solution under stirring conditions until a homogeneous mixture is formed.
You can use this solution as a stock for further uses.
@ Duried Alwazeer thank you very much for your perfect anwser. It was helpful
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