Magnesium sulfide reacts with oxygen to form the corresponding sulfate, magnesium sulfate. MgS reacts with water to give hydrogen sulfide and magnesium hydroxide. In the BOS steelmaking process, sulfur is the first element to be removed. Sulfur is removed from the impure blast furnace iron by the addition of several hundred kilograms of magnesium powder by a lance. Magnesium sulfide is formed, which then floats on the molten iron and is removed. MgS is a wide band-gap direct semiconductor of interest as a blue-green emitter, a property that has been known since the early 1900s. The wide-band gap property also allows the
Magnesium acetate LiCl, MgSO and MgCl were all compared to see what effect they had on the "Escherichia coli" enzyme Primase. The experimenters found that Mg(OAc) caused the best conformational change. MgSO and MgCl induced the effect slightly while the rest did not. When magnesium acetate is mixed with hydrogen peroxide it acts as a bactericidal. Magnesium acetate has been shown to be effective at ashing organic compounds in preparation for a fluorine analysis when high or low concentrations of fluorine are present. Magnesium acetate is a relatively safe compound to handle and has been given a health hazard rating of zero.