Making a Tungsten Heteropolymetalate

In the year of 1783, Juan Jose and Fausto Elhayar were able to prepare from tungsten-containing starting material a salt that they described as bitter, spicy and yellow ( que tenian un sabor picante y amargo ) 1 2 , finally separating tungsten as a separate element after it’s discovery in 1781 and starting the field of polyoxometalate chemistry in the process. After a while of mucking about with…