Baylor Chemical researchers synthesized new breakthrough compounds

Creating new synthetic compounds is often a complex, multi-step process that can take years of research
.
Caleb D.
Martin's team has developed a new compound called tris(o-carborane) borane, or_BoCb3
.
This state-of-the-art Lewis superacid can be synthesized in a single step and is suitable for the production of most common plastics, making it more productive, environmentally safer, and potentially saving billions of dollars in manufacturing costs
.

Martin published the results
in the September 22, 2023 issue of the journal Angewandte Chemie International (GDCh).

When Martin joined Baylor, he left behind some chemicals from the lab of the late Baylor chemist, one of the chemicals the team used to make BoCb3.
At the peak of his career, Stone was one of the
100 most cited chemists in the world.
In 1963, Stone developed a strong lewis acid called B(C)_6F5)₃ and today this method is still used in the production of polyolefins, which had a global market share of $295 billion
in 2021.
Without inheriting this chemical, his team would never have tried this out-of-the-box idea to make unique Lewis acid
.

"My research is synthetic inorganic and organic chemistry, where our target molecules can benefit society, or the results are useful
to other researchers in advancing their research," Martin said.

Can Martin improve the Lewis acid that Stone invented 60 years ago? While it has been tried before, no one has made significant improvements
to the process.

Lewis acid is an important part of the production of
polyolefins.
Lewisic acid is known as an activator, mixing it with zirconium or hafnium compounds to make it active against the polymerization of olefins (carbon-carbon double bonds) into polyolefins, which can be found in a variety of products, including plastic bags and coatings for cables, steel pipes, and auto parts, to name a few
.

Other methods of making strong Lewis acid go through several time-consuming intermediate steps to get the final product and require environmentally harmful fluorine atoms that never degrade
in nature.

They made BoCb's Route ₃ using a simple one-step process and three commercially available chemicals, "like cooking a pot of rice," Martin said
.
Combine them together and the result is a potent Lewis acid that is easier to make, produces less waste and is less harmful to the environment because it is halogen-free, fluoride-free or chlorine-free
.

"We're making new compounds all the time," Martin said
.
"However, it is rare to be able to come up with a unique and useful compound from just three substances ordered on the catalog
.
"

BoCb₃ is now in the basic discovery phase
.
They have filed for provisional patents, and their team is working extensively with three academic research groups in California, Germany, and Italy to fully understand its reactivity and potential commercial applications
.

"Although it is too early to understand the full impact of _BoCb3 it is easy to imagine that this technology will have a huge appeal
to the oil industry.
"