Amalgam (chemistry) inorganic chemistry. With water, it decomposes into concentrated sodium hydroxide solution, hydrogen and mercury, which can then return to the chloralkali process anew. If absolutely water-free alcohol is used instead of water, an alkoxide of sodium is produced instead of the alkali solution. Aluminium can form an amalgam through a reaction with mercury. Aluminium amalgam may be prepared by either grinding aluminium pellets or wire in mercury, or by allowing aluminium wire or foil to react with a solution of mercuric chloride. This amalgam is used as a reagent to reduce compounds, such as the reduction of imines to amines.
Amalgam tattoo Amalgam tattoo Amalgam tattoo (also termed localized argyrosis, or focal argyrosis) is a grey, blue or black area of discoloration on the mucous membranes of the mouth, typically on the gums of the lower jaw. It is an iatrogenic lesion, caused by entry of dental amalgam into the soft tissues. It is common, painless, and benign, but it can be mistaken for melanoma. Amalgam tattoo usually occurs on the mandibular gingiva, often in an area in which a apicoectomy ("root-end filling") with amalgam was carried out. After the gingiva, the alveolar mucosa and the buccal mucosa are the next most