Archive:Gamma boron discovery controversy
 |
This article may not meet the general notability guideline. Please help to establish notability by adding reliable, secondary sources about the topic. If notability cannot be established, the article is likely to be merged or deleted. |
The gamma boron discovery controversy relates to a dispute as to which group of scientists discovered the gamma-phase of elemental boron.
The first report of this phase was probably made by Wentorf in 1965.[1][2] However, in the 1965 paper the chemical composition was not determined (and hence the possibility of chemical contamination was not ruled out)[2] and no structural solution was given. In spite of the indirect evidence given by Wentorf, the common opinion ([3],[4], and also the fact that Wentorf's date were deleted from Powder Diffraction Files database} 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 (only 6 citations in 44 years - see Web of Knowledge database at: http://www.isiknowledge.com), and most likely for the same reasons Wentorf's data were deleted from the Powder Diffraction File database (database available from http://www.icdd.com/).
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 X-ray powder diffraction and ab initio crystal structure prediction calculations by A. R. Oganov in 2006.[5] Oganov, Chen, and Solozhenko published their findings jointly in Nature in January 2009.[5] At the same time, another group consisting of Dubrovinsky, Dubrovinskaia, and Filinchuk published a paper [1] claiming novelty. They confirmed Oganov's structure using powder diffraction [1] and single crystal X-ray diffraction.[6] 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.[7] Oganov and colleagues made at least 8 presentations of their findings at conferences, including the high-profile IUCr meeting (attended also by Dubrovinsky, Dubrovinskaia, and Filinchuk), see their abstract from August 2008 [8], also uncited by Dubrovinsky, Dubrovinskaia, and Filinchuk.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 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.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Wentorf R. H. Jr. (1965). "Boron: Another Form". Science 147: 49–50. doi:.
- ↑ 7. Amberger, E., Ploog, K. Bildung der Gitter des Reinen Bors. J. Less-Common Metals 23, 21-31 (1971).
- ↑ Douglas, B.E., Ho, S.-M., Structure and Chemistry of Crystalline Solids (Springer, N.Y., 2006)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 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.
- ↑ E. Yu. Zarechnaya (2009). "Superhard Semiconducting Optically Transparent High Pressure Phase of Boron". Phys. Rev. Lett. 102: 185501. doi:.
- ↑ "The Filinchuk correspondence", A.R. Oganov, V.L. Solozhenko, C. Gatti, J. Chen, O.O. Kurakevych. Retrieved 9 May, 2009
- ↑ [http://journals.iucr.org/a/issues/2008/a1/00/a38423/a38423.pdf C. Gatti, A. R. Oganov, J. Chen and Y. Ma. (2008). How and why elemental boron undergoes self charge transfer between 19 and 89 GPa. Acta Cryst. A64, C70 (August 2008). http://journals.iucr.org/a/issues/2008/a1/00/issconts.html
External links
- "High Pressure Yields Novel Single-element Boron 'Compound'", Science Daily, February 4, 2009.
- "Theory and Experiment Meet, and a New Form of Boron Is Found", Kenneth Chang, New York Times, February 2, 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.
- "Novelty claims from Dubrovinskaia". A web-site maintained by Oganov and his colleagues that presents some of the claims of priority (in scientific literature and in conferences) made by Dubrovinsky's team.