Boranes, closo

Nido Clusters 2n + 4 Systems). Many closo boranes and heteroboranes add two electrons and undergo a concomitant stmctural transformation from a deltahedron to a deltahedral fragment. For instance, closo-2 ()-(Z, [17764-89-OJ, (2n + 2 = 24e ), is readily reduced to... 

Closo Borane Anions. This group contains a homologous series of very stable polyhedral anions, [doso —, n = 6-12. Just as the... 

In aqueous solution, closo borane anions are very stable as their conjugate acids, which possess acidity similar to sulfuric acid, yet their chemistry is remarkably different. Large unipositive cations, such as Tl", Cs", Rb", [(CH2)4N]", and [(CH2)3S]", yield water-iasoluble salts of ... 

Pyrolysis of CsjB Hg] at 230°C gives CS2IB2H2] (60%) along with some CS2IB2QH2Q], CS2IB22H22], and CsBH (93). The sensitivity of polyhedral expansion reactions to solvent, temperature, and pressure is further exemplified by the results ia dioxane at 120°C under pressure. To obtain the closo borane, NajB H J is first converted to Cs2[B2 H23], which can be pyrolyzed to give Cs2[B2 H2J (89). 

Building on and extending earlier studies, Schleyer, Najafian, et al. [57] employed computed geometric, energetic, and magnetic properties to quantify the aromaticity of the closo boranes B H 2 (6 < n < 12), and their isoelectronic counterparts, the CB iH and C2B 2H carboranes, and the NB H azaboranes [34]. All possible heteroatom placements were considered. The most stable iso-... 

The shapes of the deltahedra in the apparently hypoelectronic clusters of the heavier group 13 metals bear an interesting relationship to their electron counts. All such hypoelectronic deltahedra can be derived formally from the standard closo-borane structures (Figure 1-2) by flattening one or more vertices towards... 

Scheme 3.2-9. Synthesis of the simplest monocarba-closo-borane anion 15a starting from triborabicyclo[l. 1. OJbutane 13a, and the one-electron oxidation product of 15a.

The closo boranes (6 < n < 12), along with their isoelectronic counter-... 

Boranes are recognized as clusters of boron atoms which represent triangularfaced polyhedra. It was Williams62 in 1970 who pointed out in a classic paper that the structures of all boranes are derived from those of the closed polyhedral borane anions, or carboranes, with vertices ranging from 5 to 12. These regular polyhedra are shown in Fig. 5 and represent the structures of the closo-boranes (or carboranes) from which all other borane structures are derived. 

No. of Skeletal Bonding Pairs Basic Polyhedron closo- Borane nido- Borane arachno- Borane hypho- Borane... 

The structure of B20H16, as determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction and shown in Fig. 47, represents that of the the only well characterized derivative of a closo-borane with more than 12 vertices. The structure may be considered as two B10H14 cages fused at the open faces, with the loss of all bridge H atoms and the loss of the terminal H atoms on the four B atoms which join the cages. This is not so... 

The structures of boranes can be grouped into several classifications. If the structure contains a complete polyhedron of boron atoms, it is referred to as a closo borane (closo comes from a Greek word meaning closed ). If the structure has one boron atom missing from a comer of the polyhedron, the structure is referred to as a nido borane (nido comes from a Latin word for nest ). In this type of structure, a polyhedron having n comers has (n - 1) comers that are occupied by boron atoms. A borane in which two comers are unoccupied is referred to as an arachno structure (arachno comes from a Greek word for web ). Other types of boranes have structures that are classified in different ways, but they are less numerous and will not be described. 

Another structural class of the boron hydrides is the so-called quasi-closo boranes. They are related to the closo boranes by removing a framework atom from the latter and adding in its stead a pair of electrons. Thus one of the polyhedron framework sites is taken by an electron pair. 

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