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Most research in chemistry is done with specific goals and applications in mind, like developing new pharmaceuticals or ways of detecting hidden explosives. But some research is done just to see what is possible. Here are five achievements that push the boundaries of chemistry.

Carborane Superacids

The strength of an acid is typically measured by how willing it is to donate a hydrogen ion. Scientists at the University of California, Riverside managed to create an acid so powerful that it can protonate pure hydrocarbons, allowing nonpolar molecules to be dissolved in a polar solvent. This incredible acidity comes from the extremely stable carborane cluster, CB11. This stability means that not only is it a strong acid, but it isn't eager to react with anything else, making it relatively inert in solution. It could prove useful in research by allowing chemists to study protonated hydrocarbons like C6H7+, which are normally only seen as very short-lived transition states.

Tetrahedrane

Another class of compounds that chemists are interested in are the platonic hydrocarbons. These are hydrocarbons based on the platonic solids, polyhedrons in which each face is the same regular polygon. Molecules based on the octahedron and icosahedron are both impossible for geometrical reasons, but cubane and dodecahedrane were rather easily synthesized.

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