By Corinna Wu
After nearly 20 years of effort, researchers have achieved the synthesis of octanitrocubane, a compound that could be one of the most powerful nonnuclear explosives known.
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Philip E. Eaton and Mao-Xi Zhang of the University of Chicago and Richard Gilardi of the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., report their feat in the Jan. 17 Angewandte Chemie International Edition.