Potassium tree leaves, adding water, heating, and evaporating the solution. When Humphry Davy first isolated the pure element using electrolysis in 1807, he named it "potassium", which he derived from the word potash. The symbol "K" stems from "kali", itself from the root word "alkali", which in turn comes from "" "al-qalyah" "plant ashes." In 1797, the German chemist Martin Klaproth discovered "potash" in the minerals leucite and lepidolite, and realized that "potash" was not a product of plant growth but actually contained a new element, which he proposed to call "kali". In 1807, Humphry Davy produced the element via electrolysis:
Potassium amyl xanthate compound. Potassium amyl xanthate Potassium amyl xanthate is an organosulfur compound with the chemical formula CH(CH)OCSK. It is a pale yellow powder or pellet with a pungent odor, soluble in water. It is widely used in the mining industry for the separation of ores using the flotation process. Potassium amyl xanthate is prepared by reacting amyl alcohol with carbon disulfide and potassium hydroxide. Potassium amyl xanthate is a pale yellow powder that is relatively stable between pH 8 and 13 with a maximum of stability at pH 10. The is 480 mg/kg (oral, rats) for potassium pentylxanthate. It is a