Borospherene (B40) is an electron-deficient cluster molecule containing 40 boron atoms. It bears similarities to other homoatomic cluster structures such as buckminsterfullerene (C60), stannaspherene, and plumbaspherene, but with a different symmetry. [1] [2] [3] The first experimental evidence for borospherene was reported in July 2014, and is described in the journal Nature Chemistry . [4] The molecule includes unusual hexagonal and heptagonal faces. Despite many calculation-based investigations into its structure and properties, a viable route for the synthesis and isolation of borospherene has yet to be established, and as a consequence it is still relatively poorly understood.
In 2014, the first experimental evidence of a homoelemental fullerene-like B40 cluster was reported by Zhai et al., after decades of theoretical investigations into boron cage structures following the discovery of buckminsterfullerene. [5] Anionic B40- clusters were transiently produced by laser vaporisation of a 10B-enriched boron disc target, and studied with photoelectron spectroscopy. Their experimental spectrum corresponded well to a combination of simulated spectra of a sheet-like, quasi-planar global minimum of the B40- anion (Cs symmetry) and its nearly degenerate fullerene-like structural isomer (D2d symmetry).
Many theoretical papers have been published on the structure, properties, and potential applications of borospherene. Neutral borospherene has a large HOMO-LUMO gap of 3.13 eV (which destabilises its anion, making the ground state of B40- the quasi-planar isomer). However, it has been calculated to be prone to exothermic dimerisation, with a low activation barrier of 63 meV, followed by trimerisation with a lower energy barrier, and runaway aggregation. [6] As a result, borospherene has yet to be isolated and is poorly experimentally-characterised, unlike buckminsterfullerene.
Borospherene has a unique C2 axis of symmetry, and belongs to the symmetry group is D2d (antiprismatic symmetry, like a baseball) - in contrast to buckminsterfullerene, which has icosahedral symmetry. It features eight close-packed B6 triangles, two staggered hexagonal holes at its top and bottom, as well as four heptagonal holes along its sides. [5] [7] Unusually, the heptagons induce positive Gaussian curvature (as opposed to negative Gaussian curvature in carbon nanotubes), which may play a role in strain reduction contributing to the stability of the cluster. [8]
16 boron atoms of borospherene are four-coordinate, and 24 are five-coordinate. It has four sets of eight equivalent boron atoms, and two sets of four equivalent atoms.
Neutral borospherene has a diameter of 6.2 Å. It comprises eleven unique bond lengths ranging from 1.60 Å to 1.85 Å, corresponding to a B-B bond order of slightly below 2 to a fractional B-B bond order respectively. This encapsulates well the large degree of both sigma- and pi-delocalisation of electrons across the electron-deficient cluster as opposed to buckminsterfullerene, which has more localised bonds and features only two bond lengths corresponding to a C-C single bond and a C-C double bond respectively. The HOMO of borospherene is quadruply degenerate, computed to be a pi-bond delocalised over 5 boron atoms.
Lai-Sheng Wang, professor of chemistry at Brown University, modeled possible B40 and B40- anion structures. The simulated spectra of two energetically lowest-lying isomers of the anion - a sheet-like structure and a closed cage - were found to fit experimental data well. Photoelectron spectroscopy revealed that the substance formed in the laboratory was this cage. Both neutral borospherene and the cage-like isomer of its anion have the same D2d symmetry, the additional electron in the anion being housed within the B40- cage structure. [1] The structure of the cage is not perfectly uniform – "Several atoms stick out a bit from the others, making the surface of borospherene somewhat less smooth than a buckyball" according to Wang. [1]
The cavity within the cage-like structure of borospherene, as well as borospherene's coordinatively unsaturated hexagonal and heptagonal faces, allows for the possibility of its endohedral or exohedral doping. [9] [10] With metal dopants, significant charge transfer is calculated to occur from the metals to the B40 cage - resulting in a positive charge forming on the metal, ostensibly making it capable of polarising small molecules. Such complexes formed are theorised to have applications in catalysis, and the detection or storage of small molecules such as H2. [11]
Exploiting the thermal stability of B40 (calculated to be stable up to 1000 K), Liu et al. investigated, with Van der Waals-corrected density functional theory calculations, the feasibility of using alkali metal-decorated B40 for the reversible storage and optical detection of hydrogen. [12] Optimisation of (AM)6B40 structures (AM = Li, Na, K) revealed the metal atoms to be distributed above the centres of each hexagon and heptagon of B40, with a large binding energy in each case suggesting these complexes should be stable. H2 adsorption to these complexes induced a red-shift in their simulated TDDFT optical spectra in the case of Li6B40, and a blue-shift in the cases of Na6B40 and K6B40.
Li et al. computationally investigated undecorated borospherene as a potential sensor for sulfur-containing gases, and found that it behaved as an electronic sensor for sulfur dioxide and carbon disulfide (their adsorption to the boron cluster significantly stabilises its LUMO, increasing its population of conducting electrons), and additionally as a Φ-type sensor for the former (due to significant change to its work function Φ upon the adsorption of SO2), but behaved as neither for the gases carbonyl sulfide and hydrogen sulfide. [13]
Modelling an exohedral Ca6B40, Esrafili et al. simulated carbon dioxide adsorption to the complex and found the upper bound of adsorption to be four CO2 molecules per Ca, with an average binding energy of -0.54 eV each - falling within the optimal range of binding energies for a CO2 adsorbent (0.40 - 0.80 eV), allowing facile desorption at elevated temperatures. [14]
Undecorated B40 was calculated to be a poor candidate for reversible hydrogen storage, being capable of the irreversible sequestration of only one hydrogen molecule per B40 within its cage. Li6B40, however, is calculated to be capable of adsorbing up to 18 H2 molecules (3 H2 molecules at each Li site) - corresponding to a gravimetric density of 7.1 wt% - with a moderate average binding energy of 0.11 eV/H2, within the optimal range for reversible hydrogen storage. Subsequent H2 molecules are physisorbed to the cluster instead of chemisorbed, and have a much weaker binding energy. [15]
In chemistry, a carbide usually describes a compound composed of carbon and a metal. In metallurgy, carbiding or carburizing is the process for producing carbide coatings on a metal piece.
A fullerene is an allotrope of carbon whose molecules consist of carbon atoms connected by single and double bonds so as to form a closed or partially closed mesh, with fused rings of five to seven atoms. The molecules may have hollow sphere- and ellipsoid-like forms, tubes, or other shapes.
Buckminsterfullerene is a type of fullerene with the formula C60. It has a cage-like fused-ring structure (truncated icosahedron) made of twenty hexagons and twelve pentagons, and resembles a football. Each of its 60 carbon atoms is bonded to its three neighbors.
In chemistry, a hydride is formally the anion of hydrogen (H−), a hydrogen atom with two electrons. In modern usage, this is typically only used for ionic bonds, but it is sometimes (and more frequently in the past) been applied to all compounds containing covalently bound H atoms. In this broad and potentially archaic sense, water (H2O) is a hydride of oxygen, ammonia is a hydride of nitrogen, etc. In covalent compounds, it implies hydrogen is attached to a less electronegative element. In such cases, the H centre has nucleophilic character, which contrasts with the protic character of acids. The hydride anion is very rarely observed.
Boron hydride clusters are compounds with the formula BxHy or related anions, where x ≥ 3. Many such cluster compounds are known. Common examples are those with 5, 10, and 12 boron atoms. Although they have few practical applications, the borane hydride clusters exhibit structures and bonding that differs strongly from the patterns seen in hydrocarbons. Hybrids of boranes and hydrocarbons, the carboranes are also well developed.
Dodecahedrane is a chemical compound, a hydrocarbon with formula C20H20, whose carbon atoms are arranged as the vertices (corners) of a regular dodecahedron. Each carbon is bound to three neighbouring carbon atoms and to a hydrogen atom. This compound is one of the three possible Platonic hydrocarbons, the other two being cubane and tetrahedrane.
Endohedral fullerenes, also called endofullerenes, are fullerenes that have additional atoms, ions, or clusters enclosed within their inner spheres. The first lanthanum C60 complex called La@C60 was synthesized in 1985. The @ (at sign) in the name reflects the notion of a small molecule trapped inside a shell. Two types of endohedral complexes exist: endohedral metallofullerenes and non-metal doped fullerenes.
Gold clusters in cluster chemistry can be either discrete molecules or larger colloidal particles. Both types are described as nanoparticles, with diameters of less than one micrometer. A nanocluster is a collective group made up of a specific number of atoms or molecules held together by some interaction mechanism. Gold nanoclusters have potential applications in optoelectronics and catalysis.
Fullerene chemistry is a field of organic chemistry devoted to the chemical properties of fullerenes. Research in this field is driven by the need to functionalize fullerenes and tune their properties. For example, fullerene is notoriously insoluble and adding a suitable group can enhance solubility. By adding a polymerizable group, a fullerene polymer can be obtained. Functionalized fullerenes are divided into two classes: exohedral fullerenes with substituents outside the cage and endohedral fullerenes with trapped molecules inside the cage.
Sodium metaborate is a chemical compound of sodium, boron, and oxygen with formula NaBO2. However, the metaborate ion is trimeric in the anhydrous solid, therefore a more correct formula is Na3B3O6 or (Na+)3[B3O6]3−. The formula can be written also as Na2O·B2O3 to highlight the relation to the main oxides of sodium and boron. The name is also applied to several hydrates whose formulas can be written NaBO2·nH2O for various values of n.
C70 fullerene is the fullerene molecule consisting of 70 carbon atoms. It is a cage-like fused-ring structure which resembles a rugby ball, made of 25 hexagons and 12 pentagons, with a carbon atom at the vertices of each polygon and a bond along each polygon edge. A related fullerene molecule, named buckminsterfullerene (or C60 fullerene) consists of 60 carbon atoms.
A transition metal fullerene complex is a coordination complex wherein fullerene serves as a ligand. Fullerenes are typically spheroidal carbon compounds, the most prevalent being buckminsterfullerene, C60.
Carborane acidsH(CXB
11Y
5Z
6) (X, Y, Z = H, Alk, F, Cl, Br, CF3) are a class of superacids, some of which are estimated to be at least one million times stronger than 100% pure sulfuric acid in terms of their Hammett acidity function values (H0 ≤ –18) and possess computed pKa values well below –20, establishing them as some of the strongest known Brønsted acids. The best-studied example is the highly chlorinated derivative H(CHB
11Cl
11). The acidity of H(CHB
11Cl
11) was found to vastly exceed that of triflic acid, CF
3SO
3H, and bistriflimide, (CF
3SO
2)
2NH, compounds previously regarded as the strongest isolable acids.
Borophene is a crystalline atomic monolayer of boron, i.e., it is a two-dimensional allotrope of boron and also known as boron sheet. First predicted by theory in the mid-1990s, different borophene structures were experimentally confirmed in 2015.
The helium dimer is a van der Waals molecule with formula He2 consisting of two helium atoms. This chemical is the largest diatomic molecule—a molecule consisting of two atoms bonded together. The bond that holds this dimer together is so weak that it will break if the molecule rotates, or vibrates too much. It can only exist at very low cryogenic temperatures.
Neon compounds are chemical compounds containing the element neon (Ne) with other molecules or elements from the periodic table. Compounds of the noble gas neon were believed not to exist, but there are now known to be molecular ions containing neon, as well as temporary excited neon-containing molecules called excimers. Several neutral neon molecules have also been predicted to be stable, but are yet to be discovered in nature. Neon has been shown to crystallize with other substances and form clathrates or Van der Waals solids.
Volleyballene is a hypothetical chemical compound that is a new type of 3D hollow molecule composed of carbon and transition metals. The name is a reference to fullerenes. The main feature of these substances is that metal atoms are part of the framework and they are not deposited on the surface of the molecule. The incorporation of the metal atoms avoids their clustering and confers to volleyballene sites to attach hydrogen. Volleyballene was predicted in 2016 by Jing Wang et al. A further study based on Density functional Theory (DFT) carried out by Tlahuice-Flores in the same year supports the predicted structure and gives computed Infrared, Raman and UV spectra for its experimental detection. The structure is described as one Sc8 cluster holding 12 scandium atoms linked to six C10 units on each face. The chemical formula C60Sc20 is closely related to C80 fullerene and it has a large predicted HOMO-LUMO gap of 1.47 eV. Further hydrogenation of volleyballene is predicted to give a 70-H structure with an adsorption energy of circa −0.11 eV/H2. Moreover, it is expected that the adsorption-desorption reaction can be reached at ambient temperature. Potential use of volleyballenes is hydrogen storage even at ambient conditions.
The triboracyclopropenyl fragment is a cyclic structural motif in boron chemistry, named for its geometric similarity to cyclopropene. In contrast to nonplanar borane clusters that exhibit higher coordination numbers at boron (e.g., through 3-center 2-electron bonds to bridging hydrides or cations), triboracyclopropenyl-type structures are rings of three boron atoms where substituents at each boron are also coplanar to the ring. Triboracyclopropenyl-containing compounds are extreme cases of inorganic aromaticity. They are the lightest and smallest cyclic structures known to display the bonding and magnetic properties that originate from fully delocalized electrons in orbitals of σ and π symmetry. Although three-membered rings of boron are frequently so highly strained as to be experimentally inaccessible, academic interest in their distinctive aromaticity and possible role as intermediates of borane pyrolysis motivated extensive computational studies by theoretical chemists. Beginning in the late 1980s with mass spectrometry work by Anderson et al. on all-boron clusters, experimental studies of triboracyclopropenyls were for decades exclusively limited to gas-phase investigations of the simplest rings (ions of B3). However, more recent work has stabilized the triboracyclopropenyl moiety via coordination to donor ligands or transition metals, dramatically expanding the scope of its chemistry.
Alexander I. Boldyrev was a Russian-American computational chemist and R. Gaurth Hansen Professor at Utah State University. Professor Boldyrev is known for his pioneering works on superhalogens, superalkalis, tetracoordinated planar carbon, inorganic double helix, boron and aluminum clusters, and chemical bonding theory, especially aromaticity/antiaromaticity in all-metal structures, and development of the Adaptive Natural Density Partitioning (AdNDP) method.
Hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks (HOFs) are a class of porous polymers formed by hydrogen bonds among molecular monomer units to afford porosity and structural flexibility. There are diverse hydrogen bonding pair choices that could be used in HOFs construction, including identical or nonidentical hydrogen bonding donors and acceptors. For organic groups acting as hydrogen bonding units, species like carboxylic acid, amide, 2,4-diaminotriazine, and imidazole, etc., are commonly used for the formation of hydrogen bonding interaction. Compared with other organic frameworks, like COF and MOF, the binding force of HOFs is relatively weaker, and the activation of HOFs is more difficult than other frameworks, while the reversibility of hydrogen bonds guarantees a high crystallinity of the materials. Though the stability and pore size expansion of HOFs has potential problems, HOFs still show strong potential for applications in different areas.