Archive:Gamma boron discovery controversy
The gamma boron discovery controversy relates to a dispute as to which group of scientists discovered the gamma-phase of elemental boron.
Now, with a hindsight[1], it appears that the first report of this phase was probably made by Wentorf in 1965[2], but the possibility of chemical contamination was not ruled out and no structural solution was given. In spite of the indirect evidence given by Wentorf, the common opinion was that he synthesized some boron compound and/or a mixture of phases (the latter seems to be correct - it appears he dealt with a mixture of phases containing gamma-B). For these reasons Wentorf's paper had attracted little attention and citation, and most likely for the same reasons Wentorf's data were deleted from the Powder Diffraction Files database.
J. Chen and V.L. Solozhenko, who independently synthesized the gamma phase in 2004, proved that they were dealing with a pure boron phase. The structure was solved by A.R. Oganov in 2006. Oganov, Chen, and Solozhenko published their findings jointly in Nature in January 2009.[3]
At the same time, another group consisting of Dubrovinsky, Dubrovinskaia, and Filinchuk published a paper [1] and claimed novelty [4]. Oganov and his colleagues maintain that Filinchuk (at that time Oganov's friend) received a copy of Oganov's manuscript on 9 December 2006, but Dubrovinsky, Dubriovinskaia and Filinchuk refused to acknowledge this fact.[5]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Zarechnaya E.Yu., Dubrovinsky L., Dubrovinskaia N., Miyajima N., Filinchuk Y.,Chernyshov D.,Dmitriev V. (2008). "Synthesis of an orthorhombic high pressure boron phase.". Science and Technology of Advanced Materials 9. doi:. http://www.iop.org/EJ/article/1468-6996/9/4/044209/stam8_4_044209.pdf. Submitted 3 November 2008, Published online 28 January 2009.
- ↑ Wentorf R. H. Jr. (1965). "Boron: Another Form". Science 147: 49–50. doi:.
- ↑ Oganov A.R., Chen J., Gatti C., Ma Y.-M., Yu T., Liu Z., Glass C.W., Ma Y.-Z., Kurakevych O.O., Solozhenko V.L. (2009). "Ionic high-pressure form of elemental boron". Nature 457: 863–867. doi:. Submitted 27 January 2007, Published online 28 January 2009.
- ↑ "Claims of Novelty from Dubrovinskaia"
- ↑ "The Filinchuk correspondence", A.R. Oganov, V.L. Solozhenko, C. Gatti, J. Chen, O.O. Kurakevych. Retrieved 9 May, 2009
External links
- "High Pressure Yields Novel Single-element Boron 'Compound'", Science Daily, February 4, 2009.
- Gamma-Boron home page. A web site maintained by Oganov and colleagues that presents correspondence showing that Filinchuk had their paper since 9 December 2006.