A diboryne in
chemistry is a
chemical compound
A chemical compound is a chemical substance composed of many identical molecules (or molecular entities) containing atoms from more than one chemical element held together by chemical bonds. A molecule consisting of atoms of only one element ...
containing a
boron–boron
triple bond
A triple bond in chemistry is a chemical bond between two atoms involving six bonding electrons instead of the usual two in a covalent single bond. Triple bonds are stronger than the equivalent single bonds or double bonds, with a bond order o ...
. Such compounds are of fundamental importance in the study of chemical bonding, though only few have been reported. A diboryne stabilized by two carbon monoxide groups, (OC)B≡B(CO), was reported isolated in
matrix isolation
Matrix isolation is an experimental technique used in chemistry and physics. It generally involves a material being trapped within an unreactive matrix. A ''host'' matrix is a continuous solid phase in which ''guest'' particles (atoms, molecules, i ...
in 2002. A diboryne stable at room temperature with two
''N''-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) units was reported by
Holger Braunschweig et al. in 2012. In terms of qualitative
molecular orbital theory
In chemistry, molecular orbital theory (MO theory or MOT) is a method for describing the electronic structure of molecules using quantum mechanics. It was proposed early in the 20th century.
In molecular orbital theory, electrons in a molecul ...
, the
B2 molecule itself is expected to have a single bond, but with NHC ligands, the third excited state yields a triple bond.
See also
*
Diborene
References
{{reflist
Boron compounds