>Coauthor Brian Stoltz, professor of chemistry at Caltech, says the reason for this strong response is that while the chemistry the catalyst drives is challengi

>Coauthor Brian Stoltz, professor of chemistry at Caltech, says the reason for this strong response is that while the chemistry the catalyst drives is challenging, potassium tert-butoxide is so seemingly simple. The white, free-flowing powder—similar to common table salt in appearance—provides a straightforward and environmentally friendly way to run a reaction that involves replacing a carbon–hydrogen bond with a carbon–silicon bond to produce molecules known as organosilanes. http://www.caltech.edu/news/potassium-salt-outperforms-precious-metals-catalyst-45464 http://www.caltech.edu/news/potassium-salt-outperforms-preci... Looks like it's for organosilanes (of which I have no clue about) However, the video for this discovery was pretty cool