Five years of my expulsion from science

How quickly time flies! I didn’t have time to look back – and I’m already 70!. Of these, FIVE years have passed since I turned out to be unnecessary to Russian science and was forced to look for ways to return myself to a capable and in-demand state for Russia. Very briefly about this sad five-year period.

At the end of 2016, I was dismissed from the Institute of Catalysis with a diagnosis of “a madman with an obsession ” (Parmon). The “obsession” is diatomic sulfur gas in the ground triplet state. Parmon was not even confused by the fact that back in 2013 we published two articles in foreign journals, where for the first time the existence of diatomic gaseous sulfur was declared. In addition, at that time of troubles for me, a gas-phase flow-circulation setup was in operation at the Institute of Catalysis, where direct experimental evidence of the existence of this substance was obtained. As I have repeatedly stressed, neither Parmon nor Bukhtiyarov have ever bothered to familiarize themselves with this installation and with the results obtained on it.

It is impossible for a sane person to understand the logic of Parmon and Bukhtiyarov’s decision to expel me from science, since at that time FIVE articles had already been published (in addition to those already mentioned), where the possibility of decomposition of hydrogen sulfide at room temperature with the production of hydrogen and elemental sulfur was experimentally proved. Therefore, this conscious decision has a special, far from scientific, background. The name of this phenomenon has been known since the Middle Ages – obscurantism.

Reference. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Obscurantism describes the practice of deliberately presenting information in an imprecise, abstruse manner designed to limit further inquiry and understanding. There are two historical and intellectual denotations of Obscurantism: (1) the deliberate restriction of knowledge—opposition to disseminating knowledge; and (2) deliberate obscurity—a recondite literary or artistic style, characterized by deliberate vagueness. In the 18th century, Enlightenment philosophers applied the term obscurantist to any enemy of intellectual enlightenment and the liberal diffusion of knowledge. In restricting knowledge to an élite ruling class of “the few”, obscurantism is fundamentally anti-democratic, because its component anti-intellectualism and elitism exclude the people as intellectually unworthy of knowing the facts and truth about the government of their City-State.

For Russian science, the problem is compounded by the fact that Parmon and Bukhtiyarov (individually or both together) are members of the editorial boards of all chemical Journals, which makes it problematic to publish any scientific materials. In addition, Parmon is also authorized to distribute funding to scientific institutions of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and also has access to the formation of a policy for the development of chemical industries in Russia. All this taken together makes it almost impossible to advance the progressive and innovative scientific achievements obtained in our research in the complete absence of funding. I have fully experienced this the hard way. The logic of the actions of the Parmon-Bukhtiyarov tandem was aimed at nipping in the bud our scientific discoveries made at the Institute of Catalysis in 1998 – 2016, which did not fit into the framework of the Institute’s long-term research on improving the process of hydrogen sulfide utilization by the well-known Claus method, for which the Institute received significant financial injections from industrial enterprises.

On the Anniversary, it is customary to recall significant milestones that characterize the reporting period. Let’s try to summarize the results of our activities over the past five years.

• The concept of the crucial role of solid catalysts in the process of low-temperature decomposition of hydrogen sulfide has been advanced MolecCatal-2020-497-111240-Startsev. For the first time in scientific practice, a unique property of solid catalysts has received thermodynamic justification, on the surface of which chemical reactions are carried out, which are fundamentally impossible in the gas phase. This opens up broad prospects for the creation of new catalytic processes occurring at ambient temperature and pressure in the image and likeness of biological systems that carry out similar chemical transformations in Nature.
• A feasibility study has been worked out to replace the processes of hydrogen sulfide utilization using the Claus method, when innovative low-temperature processes of hydrogen sulfide decomposition will replace the long-outdated high-temperature energy and material-intensive technology with the production of a valuable chemical reagent and fuel of the future – hydrogen. According to experts, the cost of the hydrogen produced should not exceed 0.8 $/kg.
• Diatomic gaseous sulfur in the ground triplet state JSulfChem-2019-40-4-435-450-Startsev has been recognized. This fundamental scientific discovery not only makes a significant contribution to the development of chemical and physical sciences, but also opens up a wide prospect of obtaining new materials and chemicals for many areas of human activity, including biology, medicine, pharmacology, etc.
• Several hypotheses have been formulated that require the close attention of all progressive humanity: JSulfChem-2022-43-671-Startsev 

Utilization of greenhouse carbon dioxide CO₂ at room temperature to produce carbohydrates – an analogue of chemosynthesis,

2 H₂S   ^{sulfur bacteria}     2 H₂* + { ³S₂ }^(globules)

H₂* + CO₂   ^{enzymes of sulfur bacteria}   { HCOOH } (carbohydrates)

discovered in 1887 by Russian scientist S.N. Vinogradsky. We know of catalytic systems capable of carrying out this chemical transformation.

Hydrogen sulfide conversion of methane, unlike steam conversion, can be carried out at room temperature:

2 H₂S + CH₄     ^{metal, 25oС}       CS₂ + 4 H₂

This catalytic reaction is very relevant for solving the environmental safety of the Black Sea, when huge reserves of dissolved hydrogen sulfide (billions of tons) are extracted and processed simultaneously with no less significant reserves of methane hydrates, greenhouse gas. The mechanism of this catalytic reaction with a possible thermodynamic justification is proposed.

When hydrogen sulfide dissociates, atomic hydrogen is formed on the surface of solid catalysts, which has unique properties of interaction with very inert molecules at room temperature and pressure:

• Nitrogen fixation with the production of ammonia and other nitrogen-containing molecules – N₂H₂ and N₂H₄. These chemical compounds can solve the problem of storing and transporting hydrogen through pipelines under low pressure.

• Activation of argon to produce the hydrogen argonide, H₂Ar, a molecule stable under normal conditions, which can be used for the accumulation, storage and transportation of hydrogen. Moreover, when hydrogen argonide is burned in fuel cells or in the presence of oxygen, water and argon are released, which returns to the atmosphere without damaging the environment. There is also reason to assume that chemical analogues H₂Ne –hydrogen neonide, and H₂He –hydrogen helionide can be obtained in a similar way. Without a doubt, if these compounds really exist under normal conditions, then this scientific discovery will give a huge impetus to the development of noble gas chemistry.

• Aqueous solutions of atomic hydrogen are stable for a long time, so they can be in demand in medicine for quenching free radicals in the treatment of cancer diseases.

I have repeatedly appealed to the leadership of the Institute of Catalysis with a request to give me the opportunity to resume scientific research, the last letter is dated 06.10.2021, but I always ran into a concrete wall of silence. Isn’t this a proof of unbridled obscurantism?

And what about Human rights?

However, I still hope that everything is not so bad in reality, because there is a progressive humanity abroad that is not indifferent to scientific discoveries and achievements that contribute to the sustainable development of human society. However, it takes quite a long period of time to realize the reliability of the results we have obtained, since recently an incredible number of charlatans and crooks have appeared, striving by hook or by crook to seize the minds of people with “outstanding scientific discoveries and achievements”. I really hope that this blatant obscurantism will be defeated by progressive humanity outside of Russia, since the Russian Academy of Sciences was not ready to accept innovative discoveries in the field of chemistry and catalysis.