Mercury silvering Mercury silvering Mercury silvering or fire gilding is a silvering technique for applying a thin layer of precious metal such as silver or gold (mercury gilding) to a base metal object. The process was invented during the Middle Ages and is documented in Vannoccio Biringuccio's 1540 book "De la pirotechnia". An amalgam of mercury and the precious metal is prepared and applied to the object which is then heated, sometimes in oil, vaporizing most of the mercury. The technique is dangerous since mercury is highly toxic, especially in its vapor phase. Mercury silvering can be detected through a variety of
Favorskii reaction Favorskii reaction The Favorskii reaction is the nucleophilic attack of an acetylide on a carbonyl group. The reaction was discovered in the early 1900s by the Russian chemist Alexei Yevgrafovich Favorskii. When catalyzed by acid, this reaction is called the Meyer–Schuster rearrangement. A metal acetylide is formed "in situ" when an alkyne is treated with a strong bases such as a hydroxide or an alkoxide: The metal acetylide then reacts with an aldehyde or ketone to form a propargyl alcohol. When an α-hydrogen is present (as is the case when the carbonyl is an aldehyde), it will tautomerize to the