Beryllium borohydride is an
inorganic compound
In chemistry, an inorganic compound is typically a chemical compound that lacks carbon–hydrogen bonds, that is, a compound that is not an organic compound. The study of inorganic compounds is a subfield of chemistry known as '' inorganic chemist ...
with the
chemical formula Be(BH
4)
2.
Preparation
Beryllium borohydride is formed by the reaction of
beryllium hydride
Beryllium hydride (systematically named poly eryllane(2)'' and beryllium dihydride) is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula ()''n'' (also written ()''n'' or ). This alkaline earth hydride is a colourless solid that is insoluble in sol ...
with
diborane in an
ether solution.
It can also be formed by the reaction of
beryllium chloride and
lithium borohydride in a sealed tube at 120 °C:
:
Structure
The
crystal structure is made up of a helical
polymer of BH
4Be and BH
4 structure units.
The
borohydride ions, , adopt a
tetrahedral geometry
In a tetrahedral molecular geometry, a central atom is located at the center with four substituents that are located at the corners of a tetrahedron. The bond angles are cos−1(−) = 109.4712206...° ≈ 109.5° when all four substituents are ...
.
Beryllium is 6-coordinate and adopts a distorted
trigonal prismatic geometry.
Application
The purest
beryllium hydride
Beryllium hydride (systematically named poly eryllane(2)'' and beryllium dihydride) is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula ()''n'' (also written ()''n'' or ). This alkaline earth hydride is a colourless solid that is insoluble in sol ...
is obtained by the reaction of
triphenylphosphine, PPh
3, with beryllium borohydride, Be(BH
4)
2 at 180 °C:
:Be(BH
4)
2 + 2 PPh
3 → 2 Ph
3PBH
3 + BeH
2
References
Beryllium compounds
Borohydrides
{{Inorganic-compound-stub