Impact of HI Schlesinger's discoveries upon the course of modern chemistry on B-(N-)H hydrogen carriers

Representatives of B-(N-)H hydrogen carriers are alkali borohydrides (e.g. LiBH4 and NaBH4) and amine boranes (e.g. NH3BH3 and NaNH2BH3). These are old compounds; they were discovered in the first half of the 20th century. One of the main contributors to their development is Prof. Hermann I. Schlesinger (1882-1960). In the recent years, there has been new interest in these old compounds as novel chemical H storage materials. Sodium borohydride NaBH4 is a typical example. It was discovered by Schlesinger and collaborators in the 1950s. At that time it was found to be an attractive H-2 generator; owing to this property it reemerged in the early 2000s for on-board H-2 generation. Today, Schlesinger is commonly considered as the pioneer of NaBH4 as hydrogen carrier but the impact of Schlesinger and collaborators' discoveries upon the course of modern chemistry on B-(N-)H hydrogen carriers is far more extensive... This is highlighted herein. (C) 2017 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.