Boron-stabilized geometry

The discovery of polyhedral boranes and polyhedral heteroboranes, which contain at least one atom other than in the cage, initiated a new era in boron chemistry.1-4 Most commonly, of the three commercially available isomeric dicarba-closo-dodecaborane carboranes(l,2-, 1,7-, and 1,12-), the 1,2-isomer 1 has been used for functionalization and connection to organic molecules. The highly delocalized three-dimensional cage bonding that characterizes these carboranes provides extensive thermal and kinetic stabilization as well as photochemical stability in the ultraviolet and visible regions. The unusual icosahedral geometry of these species provides precise directional control of all exopolyhedral bonds. 

In the same way as for Ceo and C70 fullerenes, boron clusters with magic numbers B5+ and Bi3+ appear as prominent peaks in mass spectra. These boron clusters were calculated for various geometries by several authors and were considered to present 3D aromatic stabilization.297-299... 

Polyhedral hydroborate anions (commonly referred to as polyhedral borane anions in the current literature) of generic formula have assumed an unusual status in inorganic chemistry within recent years, not only because of their high thermal and hydrolytic stability, but also because of the wide range of geometries which the boron atom skeletons in compounds of the series (n = 6-12) can adoptd Convenient syntheses... 

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