https://www.science.org/topic/blog-category/things-i-wont-wo...
He didn't write write an article about pentaborane, he left this one to Max Gergel https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/max-gergel-s-memoi...
(Warning: Spoilers ahead)
> The next day I told Parry that I was flattered but would not make pentaborane. He was affable, showed no surprise, no disappointment, just produced a list of names, most of which had been crossed off; ours was close to the bottom. He crossed us off and drove off in his little auto leaving for Gittman's, or perhaps, another victim. Later I heard that he visited two more candidates who displayed equal lack of interest and the following Spring the Navy put up its own plant, which blew up with considerable loss of life. The story did not make the press.
We made lots of different unique chemicals ourselves but distributed many more.
Quite a few from Columbia Organics, I remember their isopropyl bromide well.
Same as it’s always been.
On the original topic of the thread, check out Chemical Forces video on boranes - [https://youtu.be/8hrYlhTYl5U?si=4SDJq4MxAEu714iY]
I’m not a chemist, but used to read my copy of ‘chemistry of powders and explosives’ to get to sleep, and synthesized a few out of curiosity over the years. There are some real fun wiki holes in the topic too.
The azides do tend to be a bit unstable as well, same as the fulminates.
Most are still more stable than the organic peroxides, at least if they’re uncontaminated,
Energetics chemists tend to be the Leroy Jenkins of scientists.
Lead(ii) azide has mostly been replaced by lead styphnate or other compounds in commercial use, safer to synthesize [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_styphnate]
Then found out the DNPH was no longer available in dry form, packed under water now under a different part number and with a revised SDS.
"Hexanitro? Say what? I'd call for all the chemists who've ever worked with a hexanitro compound to raise their hands, but that might be assuming too much about the limb-to-chemist ratio." (classic chemist joke)
"make a more stable form of it, by mixing it with TNT. Yes, this is an example of something that becomes less explosive as a one-to-one cocrystal with TNT.."