Boron, My Favorite Element

摘要

Success in a profession can often be traced to being at theright place at the right time. Such was the case when I becameinvolved with boron hydrides (boranes, carboranes, etc.) as theleader of a new exploratory research group for the Rohm andHaas Company at the Army's Redstone Arsenal, near Huntsville,AL. This was during the 1950s and my mission was the explora-tion of borane chemistry, which could be applied to Cold Warrocket motors having very energetic performance provided byborane fuels. The job was especially challenging since very littlewas actually known about borane synthesis, reactions, bonding,or structures at the time; furthermore, the powerful analyticalinstruments and theoretical structural methods were just beinginvented.