A study of the preparation and characterization of selected complex aluminum hydrides

Complex Aluminum Hydrides. - Complex aluminum hydrides are well known as reducing agents in all areas of chemistry; these species are of the general formula MA1H4 (M = Li, Na, K). There are also six coordinate complex aluminum hydrides of form M3A1H6 (M = Li, Na, K). These, and related compounds, will be discussed in this study. Thermal Decomposition of Complex Tetrahydroaluminates - Early Work. - The first publication devoted to a study of the thermal decomposition of complex aluminum hydrides was published in 1952 by W. E. Garner and E. W. Haycock. After this, there were few published studies until the 1960's through early 1970's. Although governments vigorously supported work in this area during the 1950's, the results of these studies are still classified because these compounds are potential solid rocket propellents, due to their high specific impulse18 resulting from the high hydrogen content. The thermal decomposition of the MA1H4 species has been confirmed by latter work9-17 but this was not done without considerable research and initial misinterpretation of the actual route of decomposition