Talk:Sodium perborate

Disputed

The article states, "Due to the negative environmental effect of waste [[borate]]s, sodium perborate is increasingly being replaced in some applications with [[sodium percarbonate]].." However, the boron article states that boron is an important soil nutrient and is often used is agriculture (source). Boron itself is insoluble in water and would be useless by itself as a fertillizer, a boron compound, like a borate, would have to be used. Also, the peroxide would rapidly oxidize organic matter and turn in to sodium borate, which is like sodium tetraborate or borax. Therefore, releasing PBS into the enviornment has the same impact as releasing borax. This seems to contradict the claim that PBS is harmful to the enviornment and is being replaced. Polonium 12:20, 17 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It is possible that borax might negativly impact soil quality. However, the quantities released are relativly small, and it goes into the water system and becomes very dilute. I cannot see how this addtion of dilute borax to water, with some already present naturally, would negativly impact soil quality. 72.139.119.165 19:32, 17 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Untill someone finds a good source for this information, I will remove it.

I think that the negative environmental effect probably refers to the ability of borates (like phosphates and nitrates) to cause algae blooms when released into bodies of water, which create oxygen-deficient dead zones when the algae dies and is decomposed (see eutrophication). This seems like the most likely way for borates to cause environmental harm, but we need a source. --71.227.190.111 00:32, 28 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

William G. Woods (1994). "An Introduction to Boron: History, Sources, Uses, and Chemistry". Environmental Health Perspectives. 102 Supplement 7 Health Effects of Boron: 5–11. doi:10.2307/3431956. and the following articles might help.--Stone (talk) 13:53, 3 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The level of irritant

Just added a little bit about the hazards of this chemical. I have personal experience with sodium perborate and how irritating it is to skin. This stuff feels like a bee sting especially around the facial area.

As is often the case what is harmful in one situation is helpful in another. The item is used in a product called Vince by Lactona which apparently is now distributed by Lee Pharmaceuticals. As to the former product I can attest that as a cure for inside the mouth irritaions and sores it works great. I have used it for many years. No doubt the amount used is not large. Pugetkid (talk) 16:20, 18 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Actual molecular formulas

I rewrote the sentence "The formulae of the mono and tetra hydrates can therefore be written as Na₂H₄B₂O₈ (anhydrous) and Na₂H₄B₂O₈.4H₂O respectively." because it seemed inconsistent that "monohydrate" was tagged "(anhydrous)", and blindly assumed that anhydrous was correct because it was the formula without a •xH₂O in it. It was cited, but it was either not correct or else needed to be rewritten to explain more clearly (the the plain-language meaning was self-contradictory).

I don't know what it should be. But if the parent formula is NaBO₃, then the dimer would be Na₂B₂O₆, yet the structure is actually that plus two H₂O equivalents, so it's NaBO₃•H₂O. The lede counts hydrates per NaBO₃ unit (the empirical formula, "tetrahydrate, NaBO₃·4H₂O") but the sentence I question appears to count per dimer (the molecular formula, Na₂H₄B₂O₈.4H₂O). If that latter is correct, its empirical is NaBO₃·3H₂O, which the lede says is tri. So I removed the whole commentary on different formulas of different hydrates and left just The formula of the sodium salt is thus Na₂H₄B₂O₈." DMacks (talk) 20:54, 2 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The nomenclature is indeed confusing, because it uses NaBO
₃ as the "anhydrous" formula. Then the "monohydrate" NaBO
₃·H
₂O is actually the anhydrous product Na
₂B
₂O
₄(OH)
₄ or Na
₂H
₄B
₂O
₈, and the "tetrahydrate" NaBO
₃·4H
₂O is actually the hexahydrate Na
₂H
₄B
₂O
₈·6H
₂O. I fixed the page accordingly. --Jorge Stolfi (talk) 02:57, 9 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! DMacks (talk) 04:54, 9 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Use in tooth whithening

In reference to this chemical being used in tooth whitening products, a BBC TV program in the UK called "Watchdog" on 11th June 2015 stated that Sodium Perborate is toxic, carcinogenic, and banned in the EU. Similar info can be found on the internet, for example on http://www.theteethwhiteningschool.co.uk/blog/teeth-whitening-solutions-sodium-perborate/ "This is classed as a dangerous substance in Europe due to foetal cytotoxic effects. It has long been banned in Japan and now with the European commission changing its stance on this substance it can no longer be used for “cosmetic” purposes (however medical has a different criteria)".

Since the chemical may still be illegally found in some EU tooth whitening products, and with Wikipedia being used as a reference by many people on the safety of the ingredients in their products, I think it vital that the article's content page be amended to include this important safety information. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Zenn'r (talk • contribs) 16:02, 13 June 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Added that note. --Jorge Stolfi (talk) 04:47, 9 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Merge proposal

Proposing to merge two brand-name products (Bocasan and Amosan) to their generic name, for reasons of short text and context. Klbrain (talk) 14:07, 9 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Merger complete. Klbrain (talk) 21:39, 11 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]