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Scientists have found evidence of a chemical bond between two hydrogen sulfate ions:
Indiana University researchers have reported the first definitive evidence for a new molecular structure with potential applications to the safe storage of nuclear waste and reduction of chemicals that contaminate water and trigger large fish kills. The study, which was published online Oct. 6 in the German scientific journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition [DOI: 10.1002/anie.201608118] [DX], provides experimental proof for the existence of a chemical bond between two negatively charged molecules of bisulfate, or [HSO4-].
The existence of this structure -- a "supramolecule" with two negatively charged ions -- was once regarded as impossible since it appears to defy a nearly 250-year-old chemical law that has recently come under new scrutiny. "An anion-anion dimerization of bisulfate goes against simple expectations of Coulomb's law," said IU professor Amar Flood, who is the senior author on the study. "But the structural evidence we present in this paper shows two hydroxy anions can in fact be chemically bonded. We believe the long-range repulsions between these anions are offset by short-range attractions." [...] The molecule's existence is made possible through encapsulation inside a pair of cyanostar macrocycles, a molecule previously developed by Flood's lab at IU. Fatila and colleagues were trying to bind a single bisulfate molecule inside the cyanostar; the presence of two negatively charged bisulfate ions was a surprise.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday October 16 2016, @04:07AM
There is a cubical lattice with a helium trapped inside. It can't get out because it won't fit through the sides. It's trapped but not really bonded.
Sorry I don't recall the formula.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 16 2016, @05:00AM
There's dodecahedrane [wikipedia.org] but that's pentagonal.
I found some things about bcc (body-centered cubic) iron lattices. Perhaps this? [ornl.gov]
I know next to nothing about chemistry so not sure if that will help jog the memory.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by butthurt on Sunday October 16 2016, @06:36AM
You're probably thinking of the endohedral fullerene He@C60.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17801275 [nih.gov]
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1044030502006505 [sciencedirect.com]
(Score: 2) by fritsd on Sunday October 16 2016, @10:24AM
I don't know; could it be a calixarene [wikipedia.org]? That's not cubical though.
The fullerenes mentioned in the other comment sound more plausible for Helium. It would stay inside the Buckyball, but drop out of the cup (calix==cup).
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Sunday October 16 2016, @07:32PM
That's an idiotic idea that someone must have felt would help get them a grant. No other reason is conceivable.
That kind of structure would readily decompose under ionization. I'm not sure what it would decompose into, but whatever it was would probably be stabler under ionization. (I'm really thinking of electron (beta-ray) ionization here. But Alpha (helium nuclei) is trivial to stop. And Gamma (neutrons) would probably go right through it. To stop gamma you want either something heavy and dense (say lead) or something light and bouncy, like paraffin or water. Best is a combination, paraffin (or possibly better some plastic that's high in hydrogen atoms) to slow it down then then lead or steel or some such to stop it. Fancy chemicals would either be torn apart or would be ignored.
I'm sure that there's someone who could come up with a better answer than mine, perhaps some plastic that could heal after being ionized.
P.S.: I do like the idea of sintering nuclear waste into glass bricks, coating the bricks with plastic, and then encasing them in cement, and using them as a source of heat, but you probably want to wait a bit for the high levels of radiation to decay before doing that. A couple of decades should do. Before that you should be able to use it to preheat the water for some industrial process.
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