Boron Clusters

Formation of the quasi-planar B56 boron cluster: topological path from B12 and disk aromaticity

“…The boron clusters form a rich and colorful family of nanoclusters owing to the great diversity of their structural motifs, electronic features and chemical bonding phenomena. 1–3 Structures of the pure boron clusters B n include the planar and quasi-planar forms, bowl, tube, ribbon, cage, double layer, fullerene, bucky-ball,… whose electronic structure and bonding do not always follow the conventional rules and models. 4–7 Different models have therefore been introduced to rationalize their diverging characteristics.…”

“…23 Starting from the size of B 20 , a double ring tube connecting two B n strings in an anti-prism manner is found as the ground state of B 20 , B 22 , B 24 and B 26 clusters in the neutral state. 1 More particularly, B 27 + and B 42 exhibit each a triple ring tubular shape in which their geometry is constructed by superposing three B 9 and B 14 strings in anti-prism fashion, respectively. 1,24 These sizes show that a tubular shape is also an inherent structural motif of boron clusters beside the planar one.…”

“…1 More particularly, B 27 + and B 42 exhibit each a triple ring tubular shape in which their geometry is constructed by superposing three B 9 and B 14 strings in anti-prism fashion, respectively. 1,24 These sizes show that a tubular shape is also an inherent structural motif of boron clusters beside the planar one. The hollow cylinder model (HCM) 7,25 has been proved to be more suitable for rationalizing the aromaticity in tubular shape.…”

“…In growing further, both B 28 and B 29 turn out to have a cage-like structure rather than a planar or tubular shape emphasizing the unpredictability of boron cluster structures. 1,3,7,24…”

Relative Stability of Boron Planar Clusters in Diatomic Molecular Model

“…Nanoboron and boron-rich nanomaterials are of current academic and practical interests because of their widely variable interatomic bonding mechanism and related unique complex of physical–chemical properties useful in technological applications—see some of the reviews in the last decade [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ].…”