Diborane(4)

Last updated
Diborane(4)
Diborane4.png
Identifiers
3D model (JSmol)
ChEBI
24760
PubChem CID
  • InChI=1S/B2H4/c3-1-2(3)4-1/h1-2H X mark.svgN
    Key: NTSBJDTWOAARNU-UHFFFAOYSA-N X mark.svgN
  • [H]1[BH]2[H][BH]12
Properties
B
2
H
4
Molar mass 25.65 g·mol–1
Related compounds
Related compounds
Bis(pinacolato)diboron
Diboron tetrafluoride
Tetrahydroxydiborane
Except where otherwise noted, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C [77 °F], 100 kPa).
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Infobox references

Diborane(4) is a transient inorganic compound with the chemical formula B
2
H
4
. Stable derivatives are known.

Diborane(4) has been produced by abstraction of two hydrogen atoms from diborane(6) using atomic fluorine and detected by photoionization mass spectrometry. [1] Computational studies predict a structure in which are two hydrogen atoms bridging the two boron atoms via three-centre two-electron bonds in addition to the 2-centre, 2-electron bond between the two boron atoms and one terminal hydrogen atom bonded to each boron atom. [2]

Several stable derivatives of diborane(4) have been reported. [3] [4] [5]

Related Research Articles

Covalent bond Chemical bond that involves the sharing of electron pairs between atoms

A covalent bond is a chemical bond that involves the sharing of electron pairs between atoms. These electron pairs are known as shared pairs or bonding pairs, and the stable balance of attractive and repulsive forces between atoms, when they share electrons, is known as covalent bonding. For many molecules, the sharing of electrons allows each atom to attain the equivalent of a full valence shell, corresponding to a stable electronic configuration. In organic chemistry, covalent bonds are much more common than ionic bonds.

Boranes

Boranes is the name given to compounds with the formula BxHy and related anions. Many such boranes are known. Most common are those with 1 to 12 boron atoms. Although they have few practical applications, the boranes exhibit structures and bonding that differs strongly from the patterns seen in hydrocarbons. Hybrids of boranes and hydrocarbons, the carboranes are also well developed.

Diborane Chemical compound

Diborane(6), generally known as diborane, is the chemical compound consisting of boron and hydrogen with the formula B2H6. It is a colorless, pyrophoric gas with a repulsively sweet odor. Synonyms include boroethane, boron hydride, and diboron hexahydride. Diborane is a key boron compound with a variety of applications. It has attracted wide attention for its electronic structure. Its derivatives are useful reagents.

A three-center two-electron (3c–2e) bond is an electron-deficient chemical bond where three atoms share two electrons. The combination of three atomic orbitals form three molecular orbitals: one bonding, one non-bonding, and one anti-bonding. The two electrons go into the bonding orbital, resulting in a net bonding effect and constituting a chemical bond among all three atoms. In many common bonds of this type, the bonding orbital is shifted towards two of the three atoms instead of being spread equally among all three. Example molecules with 3c–2e bonds are the trihydrogen cation H+
3
) and diborane. In these two structures, the three atoms in each 3c-2e bond form an angular geometry, leading to a bent bond.

Organoboron chemistry

Organoborane or organoboron compounds are chemical compounds of boron and carbon that are organic derivatives of BH3, for example trialkyl boranes. Organoboron chemistry or organoborane chemistry is the chemistry of these compounds.

Borazine Chemical compound

Borazine, also known as borazole, is a polar inorganic compound with the chemical formula B3H6N3. In this cyclic compound, the three BH units and three NH units alternate. The compound is isoelectronic and isostructural with benzene. For this reason borazine is sometimes referred to as “inorganic benzene”. Like benzene, borazine is a colourless liquid with an aromatic smell.

Ammonia borane Chemical compound

Ammonia borane (also systematically named amminetrihydridoboron), also called borazane, is the chemical compound with the formula H3NBH3. The colourless or white solid is the simplest molecular boron-nitrogen-hydride compound. It has attracted attention as a source of hydrogen fuel, but is otherwise primarily of academic interest.

Borohydride

Borohydride refers to the anion BH−4 and its salts. Borohydride is also the term used for compounds containing BH
4−n
X
n
, for example cyanoborohydride (B(CN)H
3
) and triethylborohydride (B(C2H5)3H). Borohydrides find wide use as reducing agents in organic synthesis. The most important borohydrides are lithium borohydride and sodium borohydride, but other salts are well known (see Table). Tetrahydroborates are also of academic and industrial interest in inorganic chemistry.

Digallane Chemical compound

Digallane is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula GaH
2
(H)
2
GaH
2
. It is the dimer of the monomeric compound gallane. The eventual preparation of the pure compound, reported in 1989, was hailed as a "tour de force." Digallane had been reported as early as 1941 by Wiberg; however, this claim could not be verified by later work by Greenwood and others.

Organoscandium chemistry Chemistry of compounds containing a carbon to scandium chemical bond

Organoscandium chemistry is an area with organometallic compounds focused on compounds with at least on carbon to scandium chemical bond. The interest in organoscandium compounds is mostly academic but motivated by potential practical applications in catalysis, especially in polymerization. A common precursor is scandium chloride, especially its THF complex.

Boron monofluoride or fluoroborylene is a chemical compound with formula BF, one atom of boron and one of fluorine. It was discovered as an unstable gas and only in 2009 found to be a stable ligand combining with transition metals, in the same way as carbon monoxide. It is a subhalide, containing fewer than the normal number of fluorine atoms, compared with boron trifluoride. It can also be called a borylene, as it contains boron with two unshared electrons. BF is isoelectronic with carbon monoxide and dinitrogen; each molecule has 14 electrons.

Trihydridoboron, also known as borane or borine, is an unstable and highly reactive molecule with the chemical formula BH
3
. The preparation of borane carbonyl, BH3(CO), played an important role in exploring the chemistry of boranes, as it indicated the likely existence of the borane molecule. However, the molecular species BH3 is a very strong Lewis acid. Consequently it is highly reactive and can only be observed directly as a continuously produced, transitory, product in a flow system or from the reaction of laser ablated atomic boron with hydrogen.

1,2-Dimethyldiborane Chemical compound

1,2-Dimethyldiborane is an organoboron compound with the formula [(CH3)BH2]2. Structurally, it is related to diborane, but with methyl groups replacing terminal hydrides on each boron. It is the dimer of methylborane, CH3BH2, the simplest alkylborane. 1,2-Dimethyldiborane can exist in a cis- and a trans arrangement. 1,2-Dimethyldiborane is an easily condensed, colorless gas that ignites spontaneously in air.

Tetramethyldiborane Chemical compound

Dimethylborane, (CH3)2BH is the simplest dialkylborane, consisting of a methyl group substituted for a hydrogen in borane. As for other boranes it normally exists in the form of a dimer called tetramethyldiborane or tetramethylbisborane or TMDB ((CH3)2BH)2. Other combinations of methylation occur on diborane, including monomethyldiborane, trimethyldiborane, 1,2-dimethylborane, 1,1-dimethylborane and trimethylborane. At room temperature the substance is at equilibrium between these forms. The methylboranes were first prepared by H. I. Schlesinger and A. O. Walker in the 1930s.

Trimethyldiborane Chemical compound

Trimethyldiborane, (CH3)3B2H3 is a molecule containing boron carbon and hydrogen. It is an alkylborane, consisting of three methyl group substituted for a hydrogen in diborane. It can be considered a mixed dimer: (CH3)2BH2BH(CH3) or dimethylborane and methylborane. called 1,2-dimethyldiborane. Other combinations of methylation occur on diborane, including monomethyldiborane, 1,2-dimethyldiborane, tetramethyldiborane, 1,1-dimethylborane and trimethylborane. At room temperature the substance is at equilibrium between these forms, so it is difficult to keep it pure. The methylboranes were first prepared by H. I. Schlesinger and A. O. Walker in the 1930s.

Methyldiborane Chemical compound

Methyldiborane, CH3B2H5, or monomethyldiborane is the simplest of alkyldiboranes, consisting of a methyl group substituted for a hydrogen in diborane. As with other boranes it exists in the form of a dimer with a twin hydrogen bridge that uses three-center two-electron bonding between the two boron atoms, and can be imagined as methyl borane (CH3BH2) bound to borane (BH3). Other combinations of methylation occur on diborane, including 1,1-dimethylborane, 1,2-dimethyldiborane, trimethyldiborane, tetramethyldiborane, and trimethylborane (which is not a dimer). At room temperature the substance is at equilibrium between these molecules.

Diborane(2) or diborene is a theoretical/hypothetical inorganic compound with the formula B2H2. It is predicted to have a symmetric covalently bonded structure of H–B=B–H with linear geometry. It has been suggested that the boron–boron bonding in this compound may be a pure pi bond, one that does not have any net sigma bonding associated with it. The compound will be a very strong Lewis acid as each boron has a share in only 6 valence electrons.

1,1-Dimethyldiborane Chemical compound

1,1-Dimethyldiborane is the organoboron compound with the formula (CH3)2B(μ-H)2BH2. A pair of related 1,2-dimethyldiboranes are also known. It is a colorless gas that ignites in air.

Boron porphyrins are a variety of porphyrin, a common macrocycle used for photosensitization and metal trapping applications, that incorporate boron. The central four nitrogen atoms in a porphyrin macrocycle form a unique molecular pocket which is known to accommodate transition metals of various sizes and oxidation states. Due to the diversity of binding modes available to porphyrin, there is a growing interest in introducing other elements into this pocket.

Triboracyclopropenyl

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.

References

  1. Ruščic, B.; Schwarz, M.; Berkowitz, J. (1989). "Molecular structure and thermal stability of B
    2
    H
    4
    and B
    2
    H+
    4
    species". The Journal of Chemical Physics. AIP Publishing. 91 (8): 4576–4581. doi:10.1063/1.456745.
  2. Alkorta, Ibon; Soteras, Ignacio; Elguero, José; Del Beneb, Janet E. (23 June 2011). "The boron–boron single bond in diborane(4) as a non-classical electron donor for hydrogen bonding" (PDF). Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. 13 (31): 14026–14032. Bibcode:2011PCCP...1314026A. doi:10.1039/C1CP20560A. PMID   21698334.
  3. Xie, Xiaochen; Haddow, Mairi F.; Mansell, Stephen M.; Norman, Nicholas C.; Russell, Christopher A. (2012). "Diborane(4) compounds with bidentate diamino groups". Dalton Transactions. 41 (7): 2140–7. doi:10.1039/C2DT11936F. PMID   22187045.
  4. Wagner, Arne; Kaifer, Elisabeth; Himmel, Hans-Jörg (2012). "Diborane(4)–metal bonding: Between hydrogen bridges and frustrated oxidative addition". Chemical Communications. 48 (43): 5277–9. doi:10.1039/C2CC31671D. PMID   22526934.
  5. Horn, Julian; Widera, Anna; Litters, Sebastian; Kaifer, Elisabeth; Himmel, Hans-Jörg (2018). "The proton affinity, HOMO energy and ionization energy of electron-rich sp3–sp3-hybridized diborane(4) compounds with bridging guanidinate substituents can be varied by substitution". Dalton Trans. 47 (6): 2009–2017. doi:10.1039/C7DT04433J. PMID   29345706.