Investigating the Mechanism of Catalytic Tetraphenylborate Decomposition Using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometry: Initial Studies in FY00

The key findings from this study can be summarized as follows: (1) palladium appears to be capable of catalyzing the degradation in the absence of mercury; (2) when mercury was added to the palladium system in the form of mercuric nitrate or phenylmercuric nitrate basic, the rate of TPB degradation was roughly the same as the rate without mercury present; (3) when mercury was added to the system in the form of diphenylmercury, the rate of TPB degradation was greatly accelerated; (4) no TPB degradation was observed for a system which contained phenylmercuric nitrate basic alone with no palladium present; (5) the distribution of lower phenylborates (1 PB, 2PB, and 3PB) varied as a function of the catalyst system; (6) no lower phenylborates were observed during the first 17 hours of reaction indicating that an ''induction period'' may be necessary; and (7) the appearance of precipitates in the reaction mixture varied with the catalyst system, possibly indicating that the active catalyst that is formed may vary with the chemical form of mercury added