Purdue University - Debris Yearbook (West Lafayette, IN)

Page 17 text:

IITUTEM ..' ..lx1-xv -'bn ' ' i J! P X' a-.. -4 .Q- Boilers Travel to Houston and Defeat the Tennessee Vols john C, Bm lc . - 4 Q fs? -NNY 'N 3953.65 f'.K'fxff, , ' wav' :- X 'j'sS-f,-.Lib X -QM. .. ,.,.,, N X' t XA Jphnnbfxnf-vle sf ' ' x . WN:-N Bl b tB 1113

Page 16 text:

'Q-rn? X .Z . x,-Ls? '. -4 A! X 5 , K Q., 'N 5 .--11 '. 5. '-:NL iv 'T eo son.:Rs LmArA, SISTE 'MDMS f DAR Va., HF BI 5 QV.-15? John c. xibygei' VH ' f isi-

Page 18 text:

Professor Brown On The Borane Trail Brownis initial interest with the obscure element boron and its role in organic chemistry was sparked in 1936 when his classmate and now wife, Sarah, gave him a book, Hydrides of Boron and Siliconf' as a college gradu- ation gift. Intrigued by the book's con- tents, he investigated further, and, to his amazement, found that boranes Ccompounds of boron and hydrogenl were considered mere chemical curiosities, produced only in trace amounts in only a few labs. To Brown, this was inconceivable. As he pointed out, here was carbon, the basic and focal element of organic chemistry, whose simplist molecule, methane tCH4l, was produced by the millions of pounds annually. To its right on the Periodic Table sat nitro- gen, of which much was also known and whose simplist molecule, am- monia KNHQD, was also produced by the millions of pounds. To the left of car- bon was boron. Its simple but rare form, diborane tBH:zJ2, was produced only in milligrams in very few labs. So Brown set forth to remedy this inadequacy, and through war-time re- search, he solved the large scale synthesis problem ofdiborane by find- ing the large scale synthesis problem of an alkali metal hybrid route to the rare compound. With this immense cornerstone now laid, he continued his research at Purdue for -13 years, build- ing what has become the Brown boron empire. l-1 .' Nobel l,.iurc.i! By unlocking some of the secrets that surround borane chemistry, Brown found a reaction process known as hydroboration. The reaction in- volves the addition of diborane to un- saturated organic molecules to yield organoboranes whose versatility as chemical intermediates seem almost infinite. In fact, Brownis reagents are now the most versatile organometallic compounds known to man. The significance of hydroboration is that the organoboranes permit one to increase the number of carbon bonds through the substitution of various carbon groups for boron. This drasti- cally reduced the number of reaction steps needed in the formation of the desired product. Brownis synthesis modifications allowed for a more pure and economic large scale production of steroids, hydrocortisines, and prostig- landins, which formerly were only produced in quantities by living cells. Through the years this remarkable man has also been responsible for a number of other developments of which he is equally proud. First, his studies on the dissociation of additions of compounds of amines, Cderivatives of ammonial, with various boron com- pounds gave rise to his quantitive theory involving steric strains. These studies quickly removed doubts as to the importance of steric effects in chemical behavior. In related work with aromatic compounds, he later de- veloped the Brown constants which explain the electronic behavior of cer- tain substitute groups on the reducing compound sodium borohydride. Mil- lions of pounds of this chemical are consumed annually by paper mills ac- ross the country. Sodium borohydride and its relatively non-toxic effluents replaced zinc dithionate and its very toxic zinc and sulfur wastes which were being disguarded into our rivers. As if this is not enough, the 67 year old retiree is presently working on a theory ofninsect birth controln agents. He explained that female insects pro- duce male attracting hormones called pheremenes. These hormones are combinations of different compounds in specific proportions and are unique to each species. However, the means to produce these synthetic phere- menes were non-existent until the ad- vent of hydroboration. If the exact per- fume could be synthetically mass- produced through organoborane chem- istry and then his agents applied by others to the crop areas, it would create havoc among the males of the unde- sired species. Simply, they would be confused and unable to locate the females to reproduce. The successful application of the hormone would be an agricultural revolution by greatly diminishing the need for enviromen- tally harmful insecticides. After taking a long deserved pause, Brown asked with warm sincerity, How could you possibly get bored? Even today we know maybe five per-