Aluminium amalgam Aluminium amalgam Aluminium can form an amalgam in solution with mercury. Aluminium amalgam may be prepared by either grinding aluminium pellets or wire in mercury, or by allowing aluminium wire to react with a solution of mercury(II) chloride in water. This amalgam is used as a chemical reagent to reduce compounds, such as the reduction of imines to amines. The aluminium is the ultimate electron donor, and the mercury serves to mediate the electron transfer. The reaction itself and the waste from it contain mercury, so special safety precautions and disposal methods are needed. As an environmentally friendlier alternative, hydrides
Dental amalgam controversy years. All available world-wide research indicates that amalgam is not harmful to health... No Government or reputable scientific, medical or dental body anywhere in the world accepts, on any published evidence, that dental amalgam is a hazard to health." The Irish Dental Association provides additional detail in a published patient information letter. France has publicly recognized the safety and effectiveness of amalgam restorations. A position paper on the Association Dentaire Française website states that amalgam restorations have proven to have no biological or toxic effect. They also mention that no serious pathological fact has ever been observed and no general