Boron clusters rhombohedral unit cell

The structures of boron-rich borides (e.g. MB4, MBfi, MBio, MB12, MBe6) are even more effectively dominated by inter-B bonding, and the structures comprise three-dimensional networks of B atoms and clusters in which the metal atoms occupy specific voids or otherwise vacant sites. The structures are often exceedingly complicated (for the reasons given in Section 6.2.2) for example, the cubic unit cell of YB e has ao 2344 pm and contains 1584 B and 24 Y atoms the basic structural unit is the 13-icosahedron unit of 156 B atoms found in -rhombohedral B (p. 142) there are 8 such units (1248 B) in the unit cell and the remaining 336 B atoms are statistically distributed in channels formed by the packing of the 13-icosahedron units. 

The uniqueness of boron is clearly seen in its elemental forms, the number and structural complexity of which exceed those of any other element. At least five distinct allotropes are known, all of which contain icosahedral B12 cluster units that in most cases are accompanied by other boron atoms lying outside the icosahedral cages. The most thermodynamically stable form, j8-rhombohedral boron, has 105 B atoms in its unit cell, while the /3-tetragonal phase has 192 atoms and is still not completely elucidated despite years of study ... 

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