Volatile puzzle solved.(Bang on)(Brief article)

A chemical puzzle has finally been solved by German researchers as the molecular structure of the explosive mercury fulminate has been revealed.

Scientists working at the Ludwig-Maximilians University used X-ray diffraction analysis to determine the crystal and molecular structure of tiny crystals of mercury fulminate. These diffraction patterns revealed that mercury fulminate had a stretched-out, nearly linear, form with the structure Hg[(CNO).sub.2], in which the carbons are joined to the mercury atom (Journal of Inorganic and General Chemistry 2007, 633, 1417).

Wolfgang Beck, who led the research group, has been working on fulminate metal complexes, and …