Carbon—silicon bonds boron hydrides

But carbon is not unique in forming bonds to itself because other elements such as boron, silicon, and phosphorus form strong bonds in the elementary state. The uniqueness of carbon stems more from the fact that it forms strong carbon-carbon bonds that also are strong when in combination with other elements. For example, the combination of hydrogen with carbon affords a remarkable variety of carbon hydrides, or hydrocarbons as they usually are called. In contrast, none of the other second-row elements except boron gives a very extensive system of stable hydrides, and most of the boron hydrides are much more reactive than hydrocarbons, especially to water and air. 

Boron s chemistry is so different from that of the other elements in this group that it deserves separate discussion. Chemically, boron is a nonmetal in its tendency to form covalent bonds, it shares more similarities with carbon and silicon than with aluminum and the other Group 13 elements. Like carbon, boron forms many hydrides like silicon, it forms oxygen-containing minerals with complex structures (borates). Compounds of boron have been used since ancient times in the preparation of glazes and borosilicate glasses, but the element itself has proven extremely difficult to purify. The pure element has a wide diversity of allotropes (different forms of the pure element), many of which are based on the icosahedral Bj2 unit. 

Though not nearly so widely useful as the boron and aluminum hydrides, silicon and carbon can both act as hydride donors under certain circumstances. The silicon-hydrogen bond is reactive toward carbonium ions, resulting in reduction of the carbonium ion to the hydrocarbon. This reaction is preparatively useful for reduction of alcohols that can be converted to carbonium ions in trifluoroacetic... 

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