area u201c sa u201d and the sa to volume ratio on the thermal decomposition of a 1 mole per liter solution of bthf in thf containing 0 005 moles per liter of a stabilizer was evaluated a given volume of the stabilized solution was charged to a glass vessel in a high pressure glass 1 l autoclave or high pressure nmr tube the sample was heated for 72 hours and then cooled to room temperature using both gas evolution measurement and 11 b nmr material from the cooled sample was analyzed for bthf concentration with the results reported in moles per liter the results are reported in table 6 below with u201c temp u201d indicating the reaction temperature and u201c rate u201d indicating the bthf molar decomposition rate in moles per hour the data indicate that there is a linear correlation between bthf surface area and stability effect expressed as moles of bthf complex decomposed per hour in particular when a sample having a sa of 13 mm 2 was heated at 50 u00b0 c the 1m bthf stabilized with 0 005m stabilizer 15 showed 67 of the active product remaining in solution after 72 hours where as the unstabilized and 0 005m nabh 4 stabilized 1m bthf showed only 39 and 45 respectively however when the solution surface area was increased to 1900 mm 2 1m bthf stabilized with 0 005m stabilizer 15 showed 40 of bthf remaining in solution after heating for 72 hours at 50 u00b0 c stabilized.