Boron compounds are well-known electrophiles. Much less known are their nucleophilic properties. By recognition of the nucleophilicity of the B-H bond, the formation mechanism of octahydrotriborate (BH) was elucidated on the bases of both experimental and computational investigations. Two possible routes from the reaction of BH and THF·BH to BH were proposed, both involving the BH and BH intermediates. The two pathways consist of a set of complicated intermediates, which can convert to each other reversibly at room temperature and can be represented by a reaction circle. Only under reflux can the BH and BH intermediates be converted to BH and BH(H) via a high energy barrier, from which H elimination occurs to yield the BH final product. The formation of BH from THF·BH by nucleophilic substitution of the B-H bond was captured and identified, and the reaction of BH with BH to produce BH was confirmed experimentally. On the bases of the formation mechanisms of BH, we have developed a facile synthetic method for MBH (M = Li and Na) in high yields by directly reacting the corresponding MBH salts with THF·BH. In the new synthetic method for MBH, no electron carriers are needed, allowing convenient preparation of MBH in large scales and paving the way for their wide applications.

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Whether the general belief in a just world (GBJW) can protect individual emotions during a major disaster is a matter of debate. This study conducted two experiments to explore this question during the COVID-19 epidemic. Experiment 1 ( N = 92, M age = 22.52, 48.91% was male) manipulated the focus regarding the COVID-19 epidemic to investigate the impact of this focus on participants' emotions. The results showed that compared with the nonepidemic focus group, the epidemic focus group had higher negative emotions and lower positive emotions. Experiment 2 ( N = 200, M age = 23.91, 49% was male) manipulated the epidemic focus and GBJW to investigate their effects on the participants' emotions. The results showed that high levels of GBJW reduced negative emotions and increased positive emotions regardless of whether the participants were focused on the epidemic. This study expands the influence of the GBJW on individual emotions and finds that the GBJW can protect individuals' emotions when they face a major social disaster. These findings imply that controlling people's intake of information on the epidemic can avoid their suffering from the vicarious traumatization caused by epidemic-related information overload and that improving the public's GBJW protects their mental health during an epidemic.

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