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Borospherene
About: Borospherene is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 55 publications have been published within this topic receiving 21532 citations.
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors proposed a truncated icosahedron, a polygon with 60 vertices and 32 faces, 12 of which are pentagonal and 20 hexagonal.
Abstract: During experiments aimed at understanding the mechanisms by which long-chain carbon molecules are formed in interstellar space and circumstellar shells1, graphite has been vaporized by laser irradiation, producing a remarkably stable cluster consisting of 60 carbon atoms. Concerning the question of what kind of 60-carbon atom structure might give rise to a superstable species, we suggest a truncated icosahedron, a polygon with 60 vertices and 32 faces, 12 of which are pentagonal and 20 hexagonal. This object is commonly encountered as the football shown in Fig. 1. The C60 molecule which results when a carbon atom is placed at each vertex of this structure has all valences satisfied by two single bonds and one double bond, has many resonance structures, and appears to be aromatic. Before 1985, it was generally accepted that elemental carbon exists in two forms, or allotropes: diamond and graphite. Then, Kroto et al. identified the signature of a new, stable form of carbon that consisted of clusters of 60 atoms. They called this third allotrope of carbon 'buckminsterfullerene', and proposed that it consisted of polyhedral molecules in which the atoms were arrayed at the vertices of a truncated icosahedron. In 1990, the synthesis of large quantities of C60 [see Nature 347, 354–358 (1990)] confirmed this hypothesis.
13,394 citations
TL;DR: A new class of boron sheets, composed of triangular and hexagonal motifs, that are more stable than structures considered to date and thus are likely to be the precursors ofboron nanotubes are presented.
Abstract: We present a new class of boron sheets, composed of triangular and hexagonal motifs, that are more stable than structures considered to date and thus are likely to be the precursors of boron nanotubes. We describe a simple and clear picture of electronic bonding in boron sheets and highlight the importance of three-center bonding and its competition with two-center bonding, which can also explain the stability of recently discovered boron fullerenes. Our findings call for reconsideration of the literature on boron sheets, nanotubes, and clusters.
748 citations
TL;DR: The observation of an all-boron fullerene-like cage cluster at B40(-) with an extremely low electron-binding energy is reported, by photoelectron spectroscopy, and theoretical calculations show that this arises from a cage structure with a large energy gap, but that a quasi-planar isomer of B40 (-) with two adjacent hexagonal holes is slightly more stable than the fullerenes structure.
Abstract: Main-group analogues to fullerene-C60 have been predicted theoretically many times. Now, B40− has been observed using photoelectron spectroscopy and, with its neutral analogue, B40, confirmed computationally. In contrast to fullerene-C60, the all-boron fullerene (or borospherene) features triangles, hexagons and heptagons, bonded uniformly by delocalized σ and π bonds over the cage surface.
679 citations
TL;DR: It is shown experimentally and theoretically that B36 is a highly stable quasiplanar boron cluster with a central hexagonal hole, providing the first experimental evidence that single-atom layerboron sheets with hexagonal vacancies are potentially viable.
Abstract: Unlike carbon, boron is unable to form graphene-type structures, although variants with hexagonal holes have been suggested. Here the authors provide experimental evidence for the viability of such atom-thin boron sheets on the basis of a hexagonal vacancy discovered in a 36-atom planar boron cluster.
626 citations
TL;DR: Experimental and theoretical evidence is reported that small boron clusters prefer planar structures and exhibit aromaticity and antiaromaticity according to the Hückel rules, akin to planar hydrocarbons.
Abstract: An interesting feature of elemental boron and boron compounds is the occurrence of highly symmetric icosahedral clusters. The rich chemistry of boron is also dominated by three-dimensional cage structures. Despite its proximity to carbon in the periodic table, elemental boron clusters have been scarcely studied experimentally and their structures and chemical bonding have not been fully elucidated. Here we report experimental and theoretical evidence that small boron clusters prefer planar structures and exhibit aromaticity and antiaromaticity according to the Huckel rules, akin to planar hydrocarbons. Aromatic boron clusters possess more circular shapes whereas antiaromatic boron clusters are elongated, analogous to structural distortions of antiaromatic hydrocarbons. The planar boron clusters are thus the only series of molecules other than the hydrocarbons to exhibit size-dependent aromatic and antiaromatic behaviour and represent a new dimension of boron chemistry. The stable aromatic boron clusters may exhibit similar chemistries to that of benzene, such as forming sandwich-type metal compounds.
589 citations