chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

, an oxoborane is any

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 is a chemical element with the symbol B and atomic number 5. In its crystalline form it is a brittle, dark, lustrous metalloid; in its amorphous form it is a brown powder. As the lightest element of the ''boron group'' it has th ...

atom with a terminal

oxygen Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as wel ...

atom (a

functional group In organic chemistry, a functional group is a substituent or moiety in a molecule that causes the molecule's characteristic chemical reactions. The same functional group will undergo the same or similar chemical reactions regardless of the rest ...

). The compound class is of some relevance to academic research. The

parent compound In chemistry, a parent structure is the structure of an unadorned ion or molecule from which derivatives can be visualized. Parent structures underpin systematic nomenclature and facilitate classification. Fundamental parent structures have one o ...

, HBO, itself called "oxoborane", together with

derivatives The derivative of a function is the rate of change of the function's output relative to its input value. Derivative may also refer to: In mathematics and economics * Brzozowski derivative in the theory of formal languages * Formal derivative, an ...

, , , and have been detected 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 ...

or in the

gaseous phase Gas is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, liquid, and plasma). A pure gas may be made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon), elemental molecules made from one type of atom (e.g. oxygen), or ...

at high temperature. In these compounds the boron and oxygen form a

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 ...

prone to

cyclotrimerization In organic chemistry, an alkyne trimerisation is a +2+2nbsp;cycloaddition reaction in which three alkyne units () react to form a benzene ring. The reaction requires a metal catalyst. The process is of historic interest as well as being applica ...

boroxine Boroxine () is a 6-membered heterocyclic compound composed of alternating oxygen and singly-hydrogenated boron atoms. Boroxine derivatives (boronic anhydrides) such as trimethylboroxine and triphenylboroxine also make up a broader class of compou ...

Derivatives

Although monomeric oxoboranes have not been isolated, derivatives have been described. A

Lewis acid A Lewis acid (named for the American physical chemist Gilbert N. Lewis) is a chemical species that contains an empty orbital which is capable of accepting an electron pair from a Lewis base to form a Lewis adduct. A Lewis base, then, is any sp ...

-stabilized

adduct An adduct (from the Latin ''adductus'', "drawn toward" alternatively, a contraction of "addition product") is a product of a direct addition of two or more distinct molecules, resulting in a single reaction product containing all atoms of all co ...

of an oxoborane is ( NacNacB=O^.AlCl₃. In this compound the oxygen atom is coordinated to

aluminium chloride Aluminium chloride, also known as aluminium trichloride, is an inorganic compound with the formula . It forms hexahydrate with the formula , containing six water molecules of hydration. Both are colourless crystals, but samples are often contam ...

. The BO bond length is 130 pm (compare to 136 pm in regular

boronic acid A boronic acid is an organic compound related to boric acid () in which one of the three hydroxyl groups () is replaced by an alkyl or aryl group (represented by R in the general formula ). As a compound containing a carbon–boron bond, membe ...

s). Related systems are known. In ''trans''- Cy₃P)₂PtBr(BO)

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Platinu ...

is coordinated to the BO unit.''Oxoboryl Complexes: Boron−Oxygen Triple Bonds Stabilized in the Coordination Sphere of Platinum'' Holger Braunschweig, Krzysztof Radacki and Achim Schneider Science 16 April 2010 Vol. 328 no. 5976 pp. 345-347 In this compound the BO

bond length In molecular geometry, bond length or bond distance is defined as the average distance between nuclei of two bonded atoms in a molecule. It is a transferable property of a bond between atoms of fixed types, relatively independent of the rest of ...

is 120 picometers.

References

{{oxygen compounds Boron compounds Oxygen compounds