Gold parting valens") could be made by the distillation of saltpetre (KNO) with alum (KAl(SO)) or vitriol (FeSO) with water. 2KNO + HO + FeSO → FeO + KSO + 2HNO Nitric acid, after distillation to increase the acid strength, is capable of dissolving the silver but it will not (by itself) dissolve the gold. However, nitric acid is not able to (fully) extract silver and other impurities from an alloy with a high content of gold. Therefore, one part of scrap gold was typically alloyed with three parts of copper (quartering) before parting with nitric acid. Another method uses Sterling silver
Phenylboronic acid with BBr, followed by hydrolysis form phenylboronic acid. Aryl halides or triflates can be coupled with diboronyl reagents using transition metal catalysts. Aromatic C-H functionalization can also be done using transition metal catalysts. The dehydration of boronic acids gives boroxines, the trimeric anhydrides of phenylboronic acid. The dehydration reaction is driven thermally, sometimes with a dehydration agent. Phenylboronic acid participates in numerous cross coupling reactions where is serves as a source of a phenyl group. One example is the Suzuki reaction where, in the presence of a Pd(0) catalyst and base, phenylboronic acid and vinyl halides are coupled to produce