An appreciation of the chemical approach of V. V. Boldyrev to the study of the decomposition of solids.

Professor Vladimir V. Boldyrev has made numerous important contributions to a wide range of chemical topics, not only limited to studies of the decompositions of solids. Of particular value has been his emphasis on exploring, in detail, the chemical steps participating in the thermal reactions of solids by carefully designed experiments that rely on more observational evidence than the run-of-the-mill collection of overall kinetic data. Some of these major contributions to both the theory and the uses of solid-state reactions are identified here and discussed in relation to his illuminating and fundamental mechanistic studies of the thermal decompositions of silver oxalate, ammonium perchlorate, potassium permanganate and the dehydration of copper sulfate pentahydrate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]