You’ve just reminded me of the time Derek Lowe was posting yet another of the utterly glorious pieces in the Things I Won’t Work With section of his medicinal chemistry blog.
On this occasion, he was describing the, let’s call them lively events, that are likely to occur if you move from peroxides (substances with an -O-O- group contained in the molecule) to trioxidanes (substances with an -O-O-O- group contained in the molecule).
Now, anyone familiar with, say, the Messerschmitt Me163 Komet rocket propelled fighter, or the sinking of the Russian submarine Kursk by a faulty peroxide powered torpedo going rogue in the torpedo room, knows only too well what mayhem peroxides are capable of.
There are many more examples to track down by the diligent, all exhibiting varying degrees of bowel-watering terror, and concentrated hydrogen peroxide is a sort of one stop shop for ravenous flames, loud bangs, high speed shrapnel, and spectacles that are only entertaining if you’re watching them on TV, while you’re occupying a different continental land mass to the unfolding pyrotechnics.
So, Lowe discusses the aforementioned peroxidanes - three single bonded oxygen atoms in a line instead of two. Which he assures us are a LOT more frisky than standard peroxides.
During this dissertation, which includes mention of the peroxone process, when you really want to oxidise something to death (high test hydrogen peroxide AND ozone together!), he mentions that chemists have theorised that one of the reaction intermediates is the HOOOOO- anion, and upon mentioning this, retorts “No, I didn’t type that with my elbows”.
There are chemists who make a living from exploring the outer reaches of such chemical calamity, who doubtless earn every penny of their salaries, especially if they’ve managed to reach the present with all appendages intact.
Usually, military funding is involved in this sort of research, and the salary cheques are substantial, probably including a fair chunk of explicitly labelled danger money. Finding skilled chemists willing to take on lab work that involves not just the possibility, but the significant likelihood of having to dodge shrapnel and wear running shoes to expedite evacuations, isn’t easy.
Of course, teenage pyromaniacs are weeded out long before actual shortlisting begins, because for this business, you need cool heads and a sanguine temperament, not to mention an excellent command of a large body of technical knowledge.
But the examples I mentioned tell us that even if you have expertise on your hands, peroxides and their analogues need very little temptation to make things go tits up, in ways that you only want to observe from a suitably long distance.
Oh, and for similar mayhem involving molecules with silly numbers of nitrogen atoms crowded together in silly bond arrangements, look up a certain Dr Thomas Klapötke, whom I’ve mentioned before as being involved in getting bigger bangs for the buck, so to speak. His party pieces with polyazides and other limb removers make for reading that is simultaneously hilarious and terrifying to the chemically knowledgeable reader.
Of course, that I and several others here can launch into topics of this nature from a background of actual learning, is yet another elementary part of the environment here that smug, self-satisfied, self-righteous, complacent and frequently wilfully ignorant mythology fanboys, discover as a piece of culture shock.