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Group → 13
↓ Period
2
Period 2 element
A period 2 element is one of the chemical elements in the second row of the periodic table. The periodic table is laid out in rows to illustrate recurring trends in the chemical behavior of the elements as their atomic number increases; a new row is started when chemical behavior begins to...
3
Period 3 element
A period 3 element is one of the chemical elements in the third row of the periodic table of the chemical elements. The periodic table is laid out in rows to illustrate recurring trends in the chemical behaviour of the elements as their atomic number increases: a new row is begun when chemical...
4
Period 4 element
A period 4 element is one of the chemical elements in the fourth row of the periodic table of the elements. The periodic table is laid out in rows to illustrate recurring trends in the chemical behaviour of the elements as their atomic number increases: a new row is begun when chemical behaviour...
5
Period 5 element
A period 5 element is one of the chemical elements in the fifth row of the periodic table of the elements. The periodic table is laid out in rows to illustrate recurring trends in the chemical behaviour of the elements as their atomic number increases: a new row is begun when chemical behaviour...
6
Period 6 element
A period 6 element is one of the chemical elements in the sixth row of the periodic table of the elements, including the lanthanides...
7
Period 7 element
A period 7 element is one of the chemical elements in the seventh row of the periodic table of the chemical elements. The periodic table is laid out in rows to illustrate recurring trends in the chemical behaviour of the elements as their atomic number increases: a new row is begun when chemical...
----
Legend
Metalloid
Poor metal
Unknown chemical properties
Primordial element
Synthetic

The boron group is the series of elements
Chemical element
A chemical element is a pure chemical substance consisting of one type of atom distinguished by its atomic number, which is the number of protons in its nucleus. Familiar examples of elements include carbon, oxygen, aluminum, iron, copper, gold, mercury, and lead.As of November 2011, 118 elements...

 in group 13
Periodic table group
In chemistry, a group is a vertical column in the periodic table of the chemical elements. There are 18 groups in the standard periodic table, including the d-block elements, but excluding the f-block elements....

 (IUPAC style) of the periodic table
Periodic table
The periodic table of the chemical elements is a tabular display of the 118 known chemical elements organized by selected properties of their atomic structures. Elements are presented by increasing atomic number, the number of protons in an atom's atomic nucleus...

, comprising boron
Boron
Boron is the chemical element with atomic number 5 and the chemical symbol B. Boron is a metalloid. Because boron is not produced by stellar nucleosynthesis, it is a low-abundance element in both the solar system and the Earth's crust. However, boron is concentrated on Earth by the...

 (B), aluminium
Aluminium
Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....

 (Al), gallium
Gallium
Gallium is a chemical element that has the symbol Ga and atomic number 31. Elemental gallium does not occur in nature, but as the gallium salt in trace amounts in bauxite and zinc ores. A soft silvery metallic poor metal, elemental gallium is a brittle solid at low temperatures. As it liquefies...

 (Ga), indium
Indium
Indium is a chemical element with the symbol In and atomic number 49. This rare, very soft, malleable and easily fusible post-transition metal is chemically similar to gallium and thallium, and shows the intermediate properties between these two...

 (In), thallium
Thallium
Thallium is a chemical element with the symbol Tl and atomic number 81. This soft gray poor metal resembles tin but discolors when exposed to air. The two chemists William Crookes and Claude-Auguste Lamy discovered thallium independently in 1861 by the newly developed method of flame spectroscopy...

 (Tl), and ununtrium
Ununtrium
Ununtrium is the temporary name of a synthetic element with the temporary symbol Uut and atomic number 113.It is placed as the heaviest member of the group 13 elements although a sufficiently stable isotope is not known at this time that would allow chemical experiments to confirm its position...

 (Uut). The elements in the boron group are characterized by having three electrons in their outer energy levels (valence layers). These elements have also been referred to as earth metals and as triels.

Boron is classified as a metalloid
Metalloid
Metalloid is a term used in chemistry when classifying the chemical elements. On the basis of their general physical and chemical properties, each element can usually be classified as a metal or a nonmetal. However, some elements with intermediate or mixed properties can be harder to characterize...

 while the rest, with the possible exception of ununtrium, are considered poor metals. Ununtrium has not yet been confirmed to be a poor metal and, due to relativistic effects, might not turn out to be one. Boron occurs sparsely, probably because bombardment by the subatomic particles produced from natural radioactivity disrupts its nuclei. Aluminium occurs widely on earth, and indeed is the third most abundant element in the Earth's crust (8.3%). Gallium is found in the earth with an abundance of 13 ppm. Indium is the 61st most abundant element in the earth's crust, and thallium is found in moderate amounts throughout the planet. Ununtrium is never found in nature and therefore is termed a synthetic element
Synthetic element
In chemistry, a synthetic element is a chemical element that is too unstable to occur naturally on Earth, and therefore has to be created artificially. So far 30 synthetic elements have been discovered—that is, synthesized...

.

Several group-13 elements have biological roles in the ecosystem
Ecosystem
An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....

. Boron is a trace element in humans and is essential for some plants. Lack of boron can lead to stunted plant growth, while an excess can also cause harm by inhibiting growth. Aluminium has neither a biological role nor significant toxicity and is considered safe. Indium and gallium can stimulate metabolism; gallium is credited with the ability to bind itself to iron proteins. Thallium is highly toxic, interfering with the function of numerous vital enzymes, and has seen use as a pesticide
Pesticide
Pesticides are substances or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating any pest.A pesticide may be a chemical unicycle, biological agent , antimicrobial, disinfectant or device used against any pest...

.

Characteristics

Like other groups, the members of this family show patterns in their electron configuration
Electron configuration
In atomic physics and quantum chemistry, electron configuration is the arrangement of electrons of an atom, a molecule, or other physical structure...

, especially the outermost shells, resulting in trends in chemical behavior:
Z
Atomic number
In chemistry and physics, the atomic number is the number of protons found in the nucleus of an atom and therefore identical to the charge number of the nucleus. It is conventionally represented by the symbol Z. The atomic number uniquely identifies a chemical element...

 		 Element
Chemical element
A chemical element is a pure chemical substance consisting of one type of atom distinguished by its atomic number, which is the number of protons in its nucleus. Familiar examples of elements include carbon, oxygen, aluminum, iron, copper, gold, mercury, and lead.As of November 2011, 118 elements...

 		 No. of electrons per shell
Electron shell
An electron shell may be thought of as an orbit followed by electrons around an atom's nucleus. The closest shell to the nucleus is called the "1 shell" , followed by the "2 shell" , then the "3 shell" , and so on further and further from the nucleus. The shell letters K,L,M,.....
5 boron 2, 3
13 aluminium 2, 8, 3
31 gallium 2, 8, 18, 3
49 indium 2, 8, 18, 18, 3
81 thallium 2, 8, 18, 32, 18, 3
113 ununtrium 2, 8, 18, 32, 32, 18, 3


The boron group is notable for trends in the electron configuration, as shown above, and in some of its elements' characteristics. Boron differs from the other group members in its hardness, refractivity and reluctance to participate in metallic bonding. An example of a trend in reactivity is boron's tendency to form reactive compounds with hydrogen.

Hydrides

Most of the elements in the boron group show increasing reactivity as the elements get heavier in atomic mass and higher in atomic number. Boron
Boron
Boron is the chemical element with atomic number 5 and the chemical symbol B. Boron is a metalloid. Because boron is not produced by stellar nucleosynthesis, it is a low-abundance element in both the solar system and the Earth's crust. However, boron is concentrated on Earth by the...

, the first element in the group, is generally unreactive with many elements except at high temperatures, although it is capable of forming quite a few compounds with hydrogen
Hydrogen
Hydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the symbol H. With an average atomic weight of , hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant chemical element, constituting roughly 75% of the Universe's chemical elemental mass. Stars in the main sequence are mainly...

, sometimes called boranes. The simplest borane is diborane, or B2H6. Another example is B10H14.

The next group-13 elements, aluminium
Aluminium
Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....

 and gallium
Gallium
Gallium is a chemical element that has the symbol Ga and atomic number 31. Elemental gallium does not occur in nature, but as the gallium salt in trace amounts in bauxite and zinc ores. A soft silvery metallic poor metal, elemental gallium is a brittle solid at low temperatures. As it liquefies...

, form fewer stable hydrides, although both AlH3 and GaH3 exist. Indium, the next element in the group, is not known to form many hydrides, except in complex compounds such as H3InP(Cy)3, which is considered to be a phosphine
Phosphine
Phosphine is the compound with the chemical formula PH3. It is a colorless, flammable, toxic gas. Pure phosphine is odourless, but technical grade samples have a highly unpleasant odor like garlic or rotting fish, due to the presence of substituted phosphine and diphosphine...

. No stable compound of thallium and hydrogen has been synthesized in any laboratory.
! colspan="6"| Some common chemical compounds of the boron group>

Oxides

All of the boron-group elements are known to form a trivalent oxide, with two atoms of the element bonded covalently with three atoms of oxygen
Oxygen
Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...

. These elements show a trend of increasing pH
PH
In chemistry, pH is a measure of the acidity or basicity of an aqueous solution. Pure water is said to be neutral, with a pH close to 7.0 at . Solutions with a pH less than 7 are said to be acidic and solutions with a pH greater than 7 are basic or alkaline...

 (from acid
Acid
An acid is a substance which reacts with a base. Commonly, acids can be identified as tasting sour, reacting with metals such as calcium, and bases like sodium carbonate. Aqueous acids have a pH of less than 7, where an acid of lower pH is typically stronger, and turn blue litmus paper red...

ic to basic
Base (chemistry)
For the term in genetics, see base A base in chemistry is a substance that can accept hydrogen ions or more generally, donate electron pairs. A soluble base is referred to as an alkali if it contains and releases hydroxide ions quantitatively...

). Boron oxide
Boron trioxide
Boron trioxide is one of the oxides of boron. It is a white, glassy solid with the formula B2O3. It is almost always found as the vitreous form; however, it can be crystallized after extensive annealing...

 (B2O3) is slightly acidic, aluminium and gallium oxide (Al2O3 and Ga2O3 respectively) are amphoteric, indium(III) oxide (In2O3) is nearly amphoteric, and thallium(III) oxide (Tl2O3) is a Lewis base because it dissolves in acids to form salts. Each of these compounds are stable, but thallium oxide decomposes at temperatures higher than 100°C.

Halides

The elements in group 13 are also capable of forming stable compounds with the halogens, usually with the formula MX3 (where M is a boron-group element and X is a halogen.) The only exception to this is thallium(III) iodide. Fluorine
Fluorine
Fluorine is the chemical element with atomic number 9, represented by the symbol F. It is the lightest element of the halogen column of the periodic table and has a single stable isotope, fluorine-19. At standard pressure and temperature, fluorine is a pale yellow gas composed of diatomic...

, the first halogen, is able to form stable compounds with every element that has been tested,Except neon
Neon
Neon is the chemical element that has the symbol Ne and an atomic number of 10. Although a very common element in the universe, it is rare on Earth. A colorless, inert noble gas under standard conditions, neon gives a distinct reddish-orange glow when used in either low-voltage neon glow lamps or...

 and helium
Helium
Helium is the chemical element with atomic number 2 and an atomic weight of 4.002602, which is represented by the symbol He. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert, monatomic gas that heads the noble gas group in the periodic table...

, the two noble gases of which no stable compound has been formed. and the boron group is no exception. It is even hypothesized that ununtrium could form a compound with fluorine, UutF3, before spontaneously decaying due to ununtrium's radioactivity. Chlorine
Chlorine
Chlorine is the chemical element with atomic number 17 and symbol Cl. It is the second lightest halogen, found in the periodic table in group 17. The element forms diatomic molecules under standard conditions, called dichlorine...

 also forms stable compounds with all of the elements in the boron group, including thallium, and is hypothesized to react with ununtrium. All of the elements will react with bromine
Bromine
Bromine ") is a chemical element with the symbol Br, an atomic number of 35, and an atomic mass of 79.904. It is in the halogen element group. The element was isolated independently by two chemists, Carl Jacob Löwig and Antoine Jerome Balard, in 1825–1826...

 under the right conditions, as with the other halogens but less vigorously than either chlorine or fluorine. Iodine
Iodine
Iodine is a chemical element with the symbol I and atomic number 53. The name is pronounced , , or . The name is from the , meaning violet or purple, due to the color of elemental iodine vapor....

 will react with all natural elements in the periodic table except for the noble gases, and is notable for its explosive reaction with aluminium to form 2AlI3. Astatine
Astatine
Astatine is a radioactive chemical element with the symbol At and atomic number 85. It occurs on the Earth only as the result of decay of heavier elements, and decays away rapidly, so much less is known about this element than its upper neighbors in the periodic table...

, the heaviest halogen, has only formed a few compounds, due to its radioactvity and short half-life, and no reports of a compound with an At–B, –Al, –Ga, –In, –Tl, or –Uut bond have been seen, although scientists think that it should form salts with metals.

Physical properties

It has been noticed that the elements in the boron group have similar physical properties, although most of boron's are exceptional. For example, all of the elements in the boron group, except for boron itself, are soft. Moreover all of the other elements in group 13 are pretty reactive at moderate temperature
Temperature
Temperature is a physical property of matter that quantitatively expresses the common notions of hot and cold. Objects of low temperature are cold, while various degrees of higher temperatures are referred to as warm or hot...

s, while boron's reactivity only becomes comparable at very high temperatures. One characteristic that all do have in common is having three electrons in their valence shells. Boron, being a metalloid, is a thermal and electrical insulator at room temperature, but a good conductor of heat and electricity at high temperatures. Unlike boron, the metals in the group are good conductors under normal conditions. This is in accordance with the long-standing generalization
Generalization
A generalization of a concept is an extension of the concept to less-specific criteria. It is a foundational element of logic and human reasoning. Generalizations posit the existence of a domain or set of elements, as well as one or more common characteristics shared by those elements. As such, it...

 that all metals conduct heat and electricity better than most non-metals.

Oxidation states

The inert s-pair effect
Inert pair effect
The inert pair effect is the tendency of the outermost s electrons to remain nonionized or unshared in compounds of post-transition metals. The term inert pair effect is often used in relation to the increasing stability of oxidation states that are 2 less than the group valency for the heavier...

 is significant in the group-13 elements, especially the heavier ones like thallium. This results in a variety of oxidation states. In the lighter elements, the +3 state is the most stable, but the +1 state becomes more prevalent with increasing atomic number, and is the most stable for thallium. Boron is capable of forming compounds with lower oxidization states, of +1 or +2, and aluminium can do the same. Gallium cannot form compounds with the oxidation state +2 but can with +1 and +3. Indium is like gallium, but its +1 compounds are more stable than those of the other elements. The strength of the inert-pair effect is maximal in thallium, which is only stable in the oxidation state of +1, although the +3 state is seen in some compounds.

Isotopes

With the exception of the synthetic ununtrium
Ununtrium
Ununtrium is the temporary name of a synthetic element with the temporary symbol Uut and atomic number 113.It is placed as the heaviest member of the group 13 elements although a sufficiently stable isotope is not known at this time that would allow chemical experiments to confirm its position...

, all of the elements of the boron group have stable isotopes. Because all their atomic number
Atomic number
In chemistry and physics, the atomic number is the number of protons found in the nucleus of an atom and therefore identical to the charge number of the nucleus. It is conventionally represented by the symbol Z. The atomic number uniquely identifies a chemical element...

s are odd, boron, gallium and thallium have only two stable isotopes, while aluminium and indium are monoisotopic, having only one. 10B and 11B are both stable, as are 27Al, 69Ga and 71Ga, 113In, and 203Tl and 205Tl. All of these isotopes are readily found in macroscopic quantities in nature. Group 13 is notable for including some of the heaviest stable isotopes ever found; only lead
Lead
Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...

 has a heavier stable isotope. In theory, though, all isotopes with an atomic mass greater than 40 are supposed to be unstable to such decay modes as spontaneous fission
Spontaneous fission
Spontaneous fission is a form of radioactive decay characteristic of very heavy isotopes. Because the nuclear binding energy reaches a maximum at a nuclear mass greater than about 60 atomic mass units , spontaneous breakdown into smaller nuclei and single particles becomes possible at heavier masses...

 and alpha decay
Alpha decay
Alpha decay is a type of radioactive decay in which an atomic nucleus emits an alpha particle and thereby transforms into an atom with a mass number 4 less and atomic number 2 less...

. Conversely, all isotopes whose atomic masses are less than 40 are theoretically supposed to be energetically stable to all forms of decay (with the exception of proton decay
Proton decay
In particle physics, proton decay is a hypothetical form of radioactive decay in which the proton decays into lighter subatomic particles, such as a neutral pion and a positron...

, which has never been observed).

Like all other elements, the group-13 elements have radioactive isotopes, either found in trace
Trace radioisotope
A trace radioisotope is a radioisotope that occurs naturally in trace amounts . Generally speaking, trace radioisotopes have half-lives that are short in comparison to the age of the earth, since primordial nuclides tend to occur in larger than trace amounts...

 quantities in nature or produced synthetically
Chemical synthesis
In chemistry, chemical synthesis is purposeful execution of chemical reactions to get a product, or several products. This happens by physical and chemical manipulations usually involving one or more reactions...

. The longest-lived of these unstable isotopes is the indium isotope
Isotopes of indium
Indium consists of two primordial nuclides, with the most common nuclide being measurably radioactive . The stable isotope 113In is only 4.3% of naturally occurring indium...

 115In, with its extremely long half-life
Half-life
Half-life, abbreviated t½, is the period of time it takes for the amount of a substance undergoing decay to decrease by half. The name was originally used to describe a characteristic of unstable atoms , but it may apply to any quantity which follows a set-rate decay.The original term, dating to...

 of . This isotope is relatively important among indium's radioisotopes. The shortest-lived is 7B, with a half-life of a mere , being the boron isotope
Isotopes of boron
Boron naturally occurs in two isotopes, 10B and 11B, the later of which makes up about 80% of natural boron. 14 radioisotopes have been discovered, with mass numbers from 6 to 21, all with short half-lives, the longest being that of 8B, with a half-life of only 770 ms and 12B with a half-life of...

 with the fewest neutrons and a half-life long enough to measure. Some radioisotopes have important roles in scientific research; a few are used in the production of goods for commercial use or, more rarely, as a component of finished products.

History

The boron group has had many names over the years. According to former conventions it was Group IIIB in the European naming system and Group IIIA in the American. The group has also gained two collective names, "earth metals" and "triels". The latter name is derived from the Latin prefix tri- ("three") and refers to the three valence electrons that all of these elements, without exception, have in their valence shells.

Boron was known to the ancient Egyptians, but only in the mineral borax
Borax
Borax, also known as sodium borate, sodium tetraborate, or disodium tetraborate, is an important boron compound, a mineral, and a salt of boric acid. It is usually a white powder consisting of soft colorless crystals that dissolve easily in water.Borax has a wide variety of uses...

. The metalloid element was not known in its pure form until 1808, when Humphry Davy
Humphry Davy
Sir Humphry Davy, 1st Baronet FRS MRIA was a British chemist and inventor. He is probably best remembered today for his discoveries of several alkali and alkaline earth metals, as well as contributions to the discoveries of the elemental nature of chlorine and iodine...

 was able to extract it by the method of electrolysis
Electrolysis
In chemistry and manufacturing, electrolysis is a method of using a direct electric current to drive an otherwise non-spontaneous chemical reaction...

. Davy devised an experiment in which he dissolved a boron-containing compound in water and sent an electric current through it, causing the elements of the compound to separate into their pure states. To produce larger quantities he shifted from electrolysis to reduction with sodium. Davy named the element boracium. At the same time two French chemists, Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac
Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac
- External links :* from the American Chemical Society* from the Encyclopædia Britannica, 10th Edition * , Paris...

 and Louis Jacques Thénard
Louis Jacques Thénard
Louis Jacques Thénard , was a French chemist.His father, a poor peasant, managed to have him educated at the academy of Sens, and sent him at the age of sixteen to study pharmacy in Paris. There he attended the lectures of Antoine François Fourcroy and Louis Nicolas Vauquelin...

, used iron to reduce boric acid. The boron they produced was oxidized to boron oxide.

Aluminium, like boron, was first known in minerals before it was finally extracted from alum
Alum
Alum is both a specific chemical compound and a class of chemical compounds. The specific compound is the hydrated potassium aluminium sulfate with the formula KAl2.12H2O. The wider class of compounds known as alums have the related empirical formula, AB2.12H2O.-Chemical properties:Alums are...

, a common mineral in some areas of the world. Antoine Lavoisier
Antoine Lavoisier
Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier , the "father of modern chemistry", was a French nobleman prominent in the histories of chemistry and biology...

 and Humphry Davy had each separately tried to extract it. Although neither succeeded, Davy had given the metal its current name. It was only in 1825 that the Danish scientist Hans Christian Ørsted
Hans Christian Ørsted
Hans Christian Ørsted was a Danish physicist and chemist who discovered that electric currents create magnetic fields, an important aspect of electromagnetism...

 successfully prepared a rather impure form of the element. Many improvements followed, a significant advance being made just two years later by Friedrich Wöhler
Friedrich Wöhler
Friedrich Wöhler was a German chemist, best known for his synthesis of urea, but also the first to isolate several chemical elements.-Biography:He was born in Eschersheim, which belonged to aau...

, whose slightly modified procedure still yielded an impure product. The first pure sample of aluminium is credited to Henri Etienne Sainte-Claire Deville
Henri Etienne Sainte-Claire Deville
Henri Étienne Sainte-Claire Deville was a French chemist.He was born in the island of St Thomas, West Indies, where his father was French consul. Together with his elder brother Charles he was educated in Paris at the College Rollin...

, who substituted sodium for potassium in the procedure. At that time aluminium was considered precious, and it was displayed next to such metals as gold and silver. The method used today, electrolysis
Electrolysis
In chemistry and manufacturing, electrolysis is a method of using a direct electric current to drive an otherwise non-spontaneous chemical reaction...

 of aluminium oxide dissolved in cryolite, was developed by Charles Martin Hall
Charles Martin Hall
Charles Martin Hall was an American inventor, music enthusiast, and chemist. He is best known for his invention in 1886 of an inexpensive method for producing aluminium, which became the first metal to attain widespread use since the prehistoric discovery of iron.-Early years:Charles Martin Hall...

 and Paul Héroult
Paul Héroult
The French scientist Paul Héroult was the inventor of the aluminium electrolysis and of the electric steel furnace. He lived in Thury-Harcourt, Normandy.Christian Bickert said of him...

 in the late 1880s.

Thallium, the heaviest stable element in the boron group, was discovered by William Crookes
William Crookes
Sir William Crookes, OM, FRS was a British chemist and physicist who attended the Royal College of Chemistry, London, and worked on spectroscopy...

 and Claude-Auguste Lamy
Claude-Auguste Lamy
Claude Auguste Lamy was a French chemist who discovered the element thallium independently from William Crookes in 1862.-Life:...

 in 1861. Unlike gallium and indium, thallium had not been predicted by Dmitri Mendeleev
Dmitri Mendeleev
Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev , was a Russian chemist and inventor. He is credited as being the creator of the first version of the periodic table of elements...

. As a result, no one was really looking for it until the 1850s when Crookes and Lamy were examining residues from sulfuric acid production. In the spectra
Spectroscopy
Spectroscopy is the study of the interaction between matter and radiated energy. Historically, spectroscopy originated through the study of visible light dispersed according to its wavelength, e.g., by a prism. Later the concept was expanded greatly to comprise any interaction with radiative...

 they saw a completely new line, a streak of deep green, which Crookes named after the Greek word θαλλός (thallos), referring to a green shoot or twig. Lamy was able to produce larger amounts of the new metal and determined most of its chemical and physical properties.

Indium is the fourth element of the boron group but was discovered before the third, gallium, and after the fifth, thallium. In 1863 Ferdinand Reich
Ferdinand Reich
Ferdinand Reich was a German chemist who co-discovered indium in 1863 with Hieronymous Theodor Richter....

 and his assistant, Hieronymous Theodor Richter
Hieronymous Theodor Richter
Hieronymus Theodor Richter was a German chemist.He was born in Dresden. In 1863, while working at the Freiberg University of Mining and Technology, he co-discovered indium with Ferdinand Reich. In 1875, he became the director of the school. He died 25 September 1898, in Freiberg, Saxony, at the...

, were looking in a sample of the mineral zinc blende, also known as sphalerite
Sphalerite
Sphalerite is a mineral that is the chief ore of zinc. It consists largely of zinc sulfide in crystalline form but almost always contains variable iron. When iron content is high it is an opaque black variety, marmatite. It is usually found in association with galena, pyrite, and other sulfides...

 (ZnS), for the spectroscopic lines of the newly discovered element thallium. Reich heated the ore in a coil of platinum
Platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Pt and an atomic number of 78. Its name is derived from the Spanish term platina del Pinto, which is literally translated into "little silver of the Pinto River." It is a dense, malleable, ductile, precious, gray-white transition metal...

 metal and observed the lines that appeared in a spectroscope. Instead of the green thallium lines that he expected, he saw a new line of deep indigo-blue. Concluding that it must come from a new element, they named it after the characteristic indigo color it had produced.

Gallium minerals were not known before August 1875, when the element itself was discovered. It was one of the elements that the inventor of the periodic table, Dimitri Mendeleev, had predicted to exist six years earlier. While examining the spectroscopic lines in zinc blende the French chemist Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran
Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran
Paul Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran was a French chemist known for his discoveries of the chemical elements gallium, samarium and dysprosium.-Biography:...

 found indications of a new element in the ore. In just three months he was able to produce a sample, which he purified by dissolving it in a potassium hydroxide
Potassium hydroxide
Potassium hydroxide is an inorganic compound with the formula KOH, commonly called caustic potash.Along with sodium hydroxide , this colorless solid is a prototypical strong base. It has many industrial and niche applications. Most applications exploit its reactivity toward acids and its corrosive...

 (KOH) solution and sending an electric current through it. The next month he presented his findings to the French Academy of Sciences, naming the new element after the Greek name for Gaul, modern France.

It can be argued that the last confirmed element in the boron group, ununtrium, was not really "discovered", but "created" or synthesized. The element's synthesis is credited jointly to the Dubna Joint Institute for Nuclear Research
Joint Institute for Nuclear Research
The Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, JINR , in Dubna, Moscow Oblast , Russia, is an international research centre for nuclear sciences, with 5500 staff members, 1200 researchers including 1000 Ph.D.s from eighteen member states The Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, JINR , in Dubna, Moscow...

 team in Russia and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory , just outside Livermore, California, is a Federally Funded Research and Development Center founded by the University of California in 1952...

 in the United States, though it was the Dubna team who successfully conducted the experiment in August 2003. Element 113 (ununtrium) was discovered in the decay chain
Decay chain
In nuclear science, the decay chain refers to the radioactive decay of different discrete radioactive decay products as a chained series of transformations...

 of element 115, or ununpentium
Ununpentium
Ununpentium is the temporary name of a synthetic superheavy element in the periodic table that has the temporary symbol Uup and has the atomic number 115....

, which produced a few precious atoms of ununtrium or "eka-thallium". The results were published in January of the following year. Since then around 13 atoms have been synthesized and various isotopes characterized.

Etymology

The name "boron" comes from the Arabic word for the mineral borax,(بورق, boraq) which was known before boron was ever extracted. The "-on" suffix is thought to have been taken from "carbon"; so the name can regarded as a portmanteau of "borax" and "carbon". Aluminium was named by Humphry Davy in the early 1800s. It is derived from the Greek word alumen, meaning bitter salt, or the Latin alum
Alum
Alum is both a specific chemical compound and a class of chemical compounds. The specific compound is the hydrated potassium aluminium sulfate with the formula KAl2.12H2O. The wider class of compounds known as alums have the related empirical formula, AB2.12H2O.-Chemical properties:Alums are...

, the mineral. Gallium is derived from the Latin Gallia, referring to France, the place of its discovery. Indium comes from the Latin word indicum, meaning indigo dye
Indigo dye
Indigo dye is an organic compound with a distinctive blue color . Historically, indigo was a natural dye extracted from plants, and this process was important economically because blue dyes were once rare. Nearly all indigo dye produced today — several thousand tons each year — is synthetic...

, and refers to the element's prominent indigo spectroscopic line. Thallium, like indium, is named after the Greek word for the color of its spectroscopic line: thallos, meaning a green twig or shoot. "Ununtrium" is a temporary name assigned by the IUPAC (see IUPAC nomenclature
IUPAC nomenclature
A chemical nomenclature is a set of rules to generate systematic names for chemical compounds. The nomenclature used most frequently worldwide is the one created and developed by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry ....

), derived from the Latin names of the digits in the number 113.

Boron

Boron, with its atomic number of 5, is a very light element. Almost never found free in nature, it is very low in abundance, composing only 0.001% (10 ppm) of the Earth's crust. It is known to occur in over a hundred different minerals and ores
Orés
Orés is a municipality in the Cinco Villas, in the province of Zaragoza, in the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It belongs to the comarca of Cinco Villas. It is placed 104 km to the northwest of the provincial capital city, Zaragoza. Its coordinates are: 42° 17' N, 1° 00' W, and is...

, however: the main source is borax
Borax
Borax, also known as sodium borate, sodium tetraborate, or disodium tetraborate, is an important boron compound, a mineral, and a salt of boric acid. It is usually a white powder consisting of soft colorless crystals that dissolve easily in water.Borax has a wide variety of uses...

, but it is also found in colemanite
Colemanite
Colemanite is a borate mineral found in evaporite deposits of alkaline lacustrine environments. Colemanite is a secondary mineral that forms by alteration of borax and ulexite....

, boracite
Boracite
Boracite is a magnesium borate mineral with formula: Mg3B7O13Cl. It occurs as blue green, colorless, gray, yellow to white crystals in the orthorhombic - pyramidal crystal system. Boracite also shows pseudo-isometric cubical and octahedral forms. These are thought to be the result of transition...

, kernite
Kernite
Kernite, also known as rasorite is a hydrated sodium borate hydroxide mineral with formula Na2B4O62·3H2O. It is a colorless to white mineral crystallizing in the monoclinic crystal system typically occurring as prismatic to acicular crystals or granular masses. It is relatively soft with Mohs...

, tusionite
Tusionite
Tusionite is a rare colorless to transparent to translucent yellow brown trigonal borate mineral with chemical formula: MnSn2. The mineral is composed of 18.86% manganese, 40.76% tin, 7.42% boron, and 32.96% oxygen...

, berborite
Berborite
Berborite is a beryllium borate mineral with the chemical formula Be2·. It is colorless and leaves a white streak. Its crystals are hexagonal to pyramidal. It is transparent and has vitreous luster. It is not radioactive...

 and fluoborite
Fluoborite
Fluoborite has a chemical formula of Mg33. Its name comes from its main chemical components, FLUOrine and BORon. Fluoborite's crystal system is hexagonal, meaning it has 1 six-fold axis of rotation. It also has a mirror plane perpendicular to the c-axis. Fluoborite is uniaxial, just like all other...

. Major world miners and extractors of boron include the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

, Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...

 and Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

. Turkey is by far the most prominent of these, accounting for around 70% of all boron extraction in the world. The United States is second, most of its yield coming from the state of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

.

Aluminium

Aluminium, in contrast to boron, is the most abundant metal in the Earth's crust, and the third most abundant element. It composes about 8.2% (82,000 ppm) of the Earth, surpassed only by oxygen
Oxygen
Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...

 and silicon
Silicon
Silicon is a chemical element with the symbol Si and atomic number 14. A tetravalent metalloid, it is less reactive than its chemical analog carbon, the nonmetal directly above it in the periodic table, but more reactive than germanium, the metalloid directly below it in the table...

. It is like boron, however, in that it is uncommon in nature as a free element. This is due to aluminium’s tendency to attract oxygen atoms, forming several aluminium oxide
Aluminium oxide
Aluminium oxide is an amphoteric oxide with the chemical formula 23. It is commonly referred to as alumina, or corundum in its crystalline form, as well as many other names, reflecting its widespread occurrence in nature and industry...

s. Aluminium is now known to occur in nearly as many minerals as boron, including garnet
Garnet
The garnet group includes a group of minerals that have been used since the Bronze Age as gemstones and abrasives. The name "garnet" may come from either the Middle English word gernet meaning 'dark red', or the Latin granatus , possibly a reference to the Punica granatum , a plant with red seeds...

s, turquoise
Turquoise
Turquoise is an opaque, blue-to-green mineral that is a hydrous phosphate of copper and aluminium, with the chemical formula CuAl648·4. It is rare and valuable in finer grades and has been prized as a gem and ornamental stone for thousands of years owing to its unique hue...

s and beryl
Beryl
The mineral beryl is a beryllium aluminium cyclosilicate with the chemical formula Be3Al26. The hexagonal crystals of beryl may be very small or range to several meters in size. Terminated crystals are relatively rare...

s, but the main source is the ore bauxite
Bauxite
Bauxite is an aluminium ore and is the main source of aluminium. This form of rock consists mostly of the minerals gibbsite Al3, boehmite γ-AlO, and diaspore α-AlO, in a mixture with the two iron oxides goethite and hematite, the clay mineral kaolinite, and small amounts of anatase TiO2...

. The world's leading countries in the extraction of aluminium are Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...

, Surinam, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 and Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

, followed by Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, Guinea
Guinea
Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau. Guinea is divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures...

 and Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

.

Gallium

Gallium is a relatively rare element in the Earth's crust and is not found in as many minerals as its lighter homologues. Its abundance on the Earth is a mere 0.0018% (18 ppm). Its production is very low compared to other elements, but has increased greatly over the years as extraction methods have improved. Gallium can be found as a trace in a variety of ores, including bauxite and sphalerite
Sphalerite
Sphalerite is a mineral that is the chief ore of zinc. It consists largely of zinc sulfide in crystalline form but almost always contains variable iron. When iron content is high it is an opaque black variety, marmatite. It is usually found in association with galena, pyrite, and other sulfides...

, and in such minerals as diaspore
Diaspore
Diaspore is a native aluminium oxide hydroxide, α-AlO, crystallizing in the orthorhombic system and isomorphous with goethite. It occurs sometimes as flattened crystals, but usually as lamellar or scaly masses, the flattened surface being a direction of perfect cleavage on which the lustre is...

 and germanite
Germanite
Germanite is a rare copper iron germanium sulfide mineral, Cu26Fe4Ge4S32. It was first discovered in 1922, and named for its germanium content. It is only a minor source of this important semiconductor element, which is mainly derived from the processing of the zinc sulfide mineral sphalerite...

. Trace amounts have been found in coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...

 as well.
The gallium content is greater in a few minerals, including gallite (CuGaS2), but these are too rare to be counted as major sources and make negligible contributions to the world's supply.

Indium

Indium is another rare element in the boron group. Even less abundant than gallium at only 0.000005% (0.05 ppm), it is the 61st most common element in the earth's crust. Very few indium-containing minerals are known, all of them scarce: an example is indite
Indite
Indite is an extremely rare indium-iron sulfide mineral, found in Siberia. Its chemical formula is FeIn2S4.It occurs as replacement of cassiterite in hydrothermal deposits. It is associated with dzhalindite, cassiterite and quartz...

. Indium is found in several zinc ores, but only in minute quantities; likewise some copper and lead ores contain traces. As is the case for most other elements found in ores and minerals, the indium extraction process has become more efficient in recent years, ultimately leading to larger yields. Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 is the world's leader in indium reserves, but both the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 have comparable amounts.

Thallium

Thallium is neither rare nor common in the Earth's crust, but falls somewhere in the middle. Its abundance is estimated to be 0.00006% (0.6 ppm). Thallium is the 56th most common element in the earth's crust, more abundant than indium by a sizeable amount. It is found on the ground in some rocks, in the soil and in clay. Many sulfide ores of iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...

, zinc
Zinc
Zinc , or spelter , is a metallic chemical element; it has the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is the first element in group 12 of the periodic table. Zinc is, in some respects, chemically similar to magnesium, because its ion is of similar size and its only common oxidation state is +2...

 and cobalt
Cobalt
Cobalt is a chemical element with symbol Co and atomic number 27. It is found naturally only in chemically combined form. The free element, produced by reductive smelting, is a hard, lustrous, silver-gray metal....

 contain thallium. In minerals it is found in moderate quantities: some examples are crookesite
Crookesite
Crookesite is a selenide mineral composed of copper and selenium with variable thallium and silver.-Characteristics:Its chemical formula is reported either as Cu7Se4 or 2Se...

 (in which it was first discovered), lorandite
Lorandite
Lorandite is a thallium arsenic sulfosalt with the chemical formula: TlAsS2. Though rare, it is the most common thallium-bearing mineral. Lorandite occurs in low-temperature hydrothermal associations and in gold and mercury ore deposits...

, routhierite, bukovite, hutchinsonite and
sabatierite.
There are other minerals that contain small amounts of thallium, but they are very rare and do not serve as primary sources. Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...

 is a notable thallium extractor and producer.

Ununtrium

Ununtrium is an element that is never found in nature but has been created in a laboratory. It is therefore classified as a synthetic element
Synthetic element
In chemistry, a synthetic element is a chemical element that is too unstable to occur naturally on Earth, and therefore has to be created artificially. So far 30 synthetic elements have been discovered—that is, synthesized...

 with no stable isotopes.

Applications

With the exception of synthetic ununtrium, all the elements in the boron group have numerous uses and applications in the production and content of many items.

Boron has found many industrial applications in recent decades, and new ones are still being found. A common application is in fiberglass
Fiberglass
Glass fiber is a material consisting of numerous extremely fine fibers of glass.Glassmakers throughout history have experimented with glass fibers, but mass manufacture of glass fiber was only made possible with the invention of finer machine tooling...

. There has been rapid expansion in the market for borosilicate glass
Borosilicate glass
Borosilicate glass is a type of glass with the main glass-forming constituents silica and boron oxide. Borosilicate glasses are known for having very low coefficients of thermal expansion , making them resistant to thermal shock, more so than any other common glass...

; most notable among its special qualities is a much greater resistance to thermal expansion
Thermal expansion
Thermal expansion is the tendency of matter to change in volume in response to a change in temperature.When a substance is heated, its particles begin moving more and thus usually maintain a greater average separation. Materials which contract with increasing temperature are rare; this effect is...

 than regular glass. Another commercially expanding use of boron and its derivatives is in ceramics. Several boron compounds, especially the oxides, have unique and valuable properties that have led to their substitution for other materials that are less useful. Boron may be found in pots, vases, plates, and ceramic pan-handles for its insulating properties. The compound borax
Borax
Borax, also known as sodium borate, sodium tetraborate, or disodium tetraborate, is an important boron compound, a mineral, and a salt of boric acid. It is usually a white powder consisting of soft colorless crystals that dissolve easily in water.Borax has a wide variety of uses...

 is used in bleaches, for both clothes and teeth. The hardness of boron and some of its compounds give it a wide array of additional uses. A small part (5%) of the boron produced finds use in agriculture.

Aluminium is a metal with numerous familiar uses in everyday life. It is most often encountered in construction
Construction
In the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of human multitasking...

 materials, in electrical
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...

 devices, especially as the conductor
Electrical conductor
In physics and electrical engineering, a conductor is a material which contains movable electric charges. In metallic conductors such as copper or aluminum, the movable charged particles are electrons...

 in cables, and in tools and vessels for cooking and preserving food. Aluminium's lack of reactivity with food products makes it particularly useful for canning. Its high affinity for oxygen makes it a powerful reducing agent
Reducing agent
A reducing agent is the element or compound in a reduction-oxidation reaction that donates an electron to another species; however, since the reducer loses an electron we say it is "oxidized"...

. Finely powdered pure aluminium oxidizes rapidly in air, generating a huge amount of heat in the process (burning at about or ), leading to applications in welding
Welding
Welding is a fabrication or sculptural process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by causing coalescence. This is often done by melting the workpieces and adding a filler material to form a pool of molten material that cools to become a strong joint, with pressure sometimes...

 and elsewhere that a large amount of heat is needed. Aluminium is a component of alloys used for making lightweight bodies for aircraft. Cars also sometimes incorporate aluminium in their framework and body, and there are similar applications in military equipment. Less common uses include components of decorations and some guitars. The element is also sees use in a diverse range of electronics.

Gallium and its derivatives have only found applications in recent decades. Gallium arsenide has been used in semiconductors, in amplifiers, in solar cells (for example in satellites) and in tunnel diode
Diode
In electronics, a diode is a type of two-terminal electronic component with a nonlinear current–voltage characteristic. A semiconductor diode, the most common type today, is a crystalline piece of semiconductor material connected to two electrical terminals...

s for FM transmitter circuits. Gallium alloys are used mostly for dental purposes. Gallium ammonium chloride is used for the leads in transistors. A major application of gallium is in LED
LEd
LEd is a TeX/LaTeX editing software working under Microsoft Windows. It is a freeware product....

 lighting. The pure element has been used as a dopant
Dopant
A dopant, also called a doping agent, is a trace impurity element that is inserted into a substance in order to alter the electrical properties or the optical properties of the substance. In the case of crystalline substances, the atoms of the dopant very commonly take the place of elements that...

 in semiconductors, and has additional uses in electronic devices with other elements. Gallium has the property of being able to 'wet' glass and porcelain, and thus can be used to make mirrors and other highly reflective objects. Gallium can be added to alloys of other metals to lower their melting points.

Indium's uses can be divided into four categories: the largest part (70%) of the production is used for coatings, usually combined as indium tin oxide
Indium tin oxide
Indium tin oxide is a solid solution of indium oxide and tin oxide , typically 90% In2O3, 10% SnO2 by weight. It is transparent and colorless in thin layers while in bulk form it is yellowish to grey...

 (ITO); a smaller portion (12%) goes into alloys and solder
Solder
Solder is a fusible metal alloy used to join together metal workpieces and having a melting point below that of the workpiece.Soft solder is what is most often thought of when solder or soldering are mentioned and it typically has a melting range of . It is commonly used in electronics and...

s; a similar amount is used in electrical components and in semiconductors; and the final 6% goes to minor applications. Among the items in which indium may be found are platings, bearings, display devices, heat reflectors, phosphors, and nuclear control rods. Indium tin oxide has found a wide range of applications, including glass coatings, solar collectors, streetlights, electrophosetic displays (EPDs), electroluminescent displays (ELDs), plasma display panels (PDPs), electrochemic displays (ECs), field emission displays (FEDs), sodium lamps, windshield glass and cathode ray tubes, making it the single most important indium compound.

Thallium is used in its elemental form more often than the other boron-group elements. Uncompounded thallium is used in low-melting glasses, photoelectric cells, switches, mercury alloys for low-range glass thermometers, and thallium salts. It can be found in lamps and electronics, and is also used in myocardial imaging. The possibility of using thallium in semiconductors has been researched, and it is a known catalyst in organic synthesis. Thallium hydroxide
Thallium(I) hydroxide
Thallium hydroxide, also called thallous hydroxide, TlOH, is a hydroxide of thallium, with thallium in oxidation state +1. Thallous hydroxide is a strong base; it is changed to thallous ion, Tl+, except in strongly basic conditions.-References:...

 (TlOH) is used mainly in the production of other thallium compounds. Thallium sulfate (Tl2SO4) is an outstanding vermin
Vermin
Vermin is a term applied to various animal species regarded by some as pests or nuisances and especially to those associated with the carrying of disease. Since the term is defined in relation to human activities, which species are included will vary from area to area and even person to person...

-killer, and it is a principal component in some rat and mouse poisons. However, the United States and some European countries have banned the substance because of its high toxicity to humans. In other countries, though, the market for the substance is growing. Tl2SO4 is also used in optical systems.

Biological role

None of the group-13 elements has a major biological role in complex animals, but some are at least associated with a living being. As in other groups, the lighter elements usually have more biological roles than the heavier. The heaviest ones are toxic, as are the other elements in the same periods. Boron is essential in most plants, whose cells use it for such purposes as strengthening cell wall
Cell wall
The cell wall is the tough, usually flexible but sometimes fairly rigid layer that surrounds some types of cells. It is located outside the cell membrane and provides these cells with structural support and protection, and also acts as a filtering mechanism. A major function of the cell wall is to...

s. It is found in humans, certainly as a trace element
Trace element
In analytical chemistry, a trace element is an element in a sample that has an average concentration of less than 100 parts per million measured in atomic count, or less than 100 micrograms per gram....

, but there is ongoing debate over its significance in human nutrition. Boron's chemistry does allow it to form complexes with such important molecules as carbohydrates, so it is plausible that it could be of greater use in the human body than previously thought. Boron has also been shown to be able to replace iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...

 in some of its functions, particularly in the healing of wounds. Aluminium has no known biological role in plants or animals. Gallium is not essential for the human body, but its relation to iron(III) allows it to become bound to proteins that transport and store iron. Gallium can also stimulate metabolism. Indium and its heavier homologues have no biological role, although indium salts in small doses, like gallium, can stimulate metabolism.

Toxicity

All of the elements in the boron group can be toxic, given a high enough dose. Some of them are only toxic to plants, some only to animals, and some to both.

As an example of boron toxicity, it has been observed to harm barley
Barley
Barley is a major cereal grain, a member of the grass family. It serves as a major animal fodder, as a base malt for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods...

 in concentrations exceeding 20 mM. The symptoms of boron toxicity are numerous in plants, complicating research: they include reduced cell division, decreased shoot and root growth, decreased production of leaf chlorophyll, inhibition of photosynthesis, lowering of stomata conductance, reduced proton extrusion from roots, and deposition of lignin and suborgin.

Aluminium does not present a prominent toxicity hazard in small quantities, but very large doses are slightly toxic. Gallium is not considered toxic, although it may have some minor effects. Indium is not toxic and can be handled with nearly the same precautions as gallium, but some of its compounds are slightly to moderately toxic.

Thallium, unlike gallium and indium, is extremely toxic, and has caused many poisoning deaths. Its most noticeable effect, apparent even from tiny doses, is hair loss all over the body, but it causes a wide range of other symptoms, disrupting and eventually halting the functions of many organs. The nearly colorless, odorless and tasteless nature of thallium compounds has led to their use by murderers. The incidence of thallium poisoning, intentional and accidental, increased when thallium (with its similarly toxic compound, thallium sulfate) was introduced to control rats and other pests. The use of thallium pesticides has therefore been prohibited since 1975 in many countries, including the USA.

Ununtrium is a highly unstable element and decays by emitting radioactive particles. It is, without a doubt, extremely toxic.

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