Chemical Science Blog

Ortho-diethynylbenzene dianion is the strongest base ever made

Source: © Royal Society of Chemistry
The superbasic ortho-diethynylbenzene dianion (red) readily abstracts protons from many weak acids

The methyl anion H3C– was the strongest known base for 30 years, until Tian and colleagues made the lithium monoxide anion in 2008, which has held the record since. Now, scientists in Australia have knocked LiO– down to second place, making a gas-phase dianion with the highest basicity ever found.

Superbases with high proton affinities like n-butyl lithium and sodium hydride are fundamental to organic synthesis. Chemists use them to deprotonate weak acids – the weaker the acid, the stronger the base needed to deprotonate it.

Read the full story by Will Bergius in Chemistry World.

B L J Poad et al., Chem. Sci., 2016. DOI: 10.1039/c6sc01726f

On 28 November 2016, the Royal Society of Chemistry and the American Chemical Society Publications Division, ACS Publications, both signed the ORCID Open Letter committing to unambiguous identification of all authors that publish in our journals.

The official press release can be found here: http://rsc.li/orcid

In brief, this partnership with ORCID will resolve ambiguity in researcher identification caused by name changes, cultural differences in name presentation, and the inconsistent use of name abbreviations, thereby ensuring their contributions are appropriately recognized and credited.