Amalgam (chemistry) 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 or other reducing agents can often be used to accomplish the same synthetic result. Another environmentally friendly alternative is an alloy of aluminium and gallium which similarly renders the aluminium more reactive by preventing it from forming an oxide layer. Tin amalgam was used in the middle of the 19th century as a reflective mirror coating. A variety of
UCPH Department of Chemistry moved several times, usually to better surroundings. In 1962, Universitetets Kemiske Laboratorium moved to its present location in the H.C. Ørsted Institute (HCØ), named after Hans Christian Ørsted who discovered electromagnetism in 1820. It is less well known that H.C. Ørsted was also an able chemist, and that he was in fact the first person to isolate the element aluminium. UCPH Department of Chemistry The Department of Chemistry () is a department under the Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen. It is the largest basic research institute in chemistry in Denmark, and is responsible for the teaching of chemistry at