Electron-deficient clusters boron-containing

In this section, we introduce electron-deficient clusters containing boron, focusing on the small clusters [BgHg], B5H9 and B4H10. A comprehensive treatment of borane and carbaborane clusters is beyond the scope of this book, but more detailed accounts can be found in the references cited at the end of the chapter. 

Boron clusters are electron-deficient i.e. contain bonds with orders lower than 1, which are uncharacteristic for normal organic and inorganic molecules. Thus, a closo polyhedron has 3n-6 edges, i.e. bonding contacts, but only 2n + 2... 

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