Reactions of Diborane

Polyhedral Boranes

[B6H6] 2-
[B12H12]2-

What are the point groups of these two anions?

 Wade's Rules
2-
Example: [B6H6]
Understanding Wade's Rules

Number of valence electrons = 6(3) + 6(1) + 2 = 26 or 13 pairs of electrons.

Six pairs of electrons are involved in bonding to terminal hydrogens (one per
boron).

Therefore seven (n + 1) pairs of electrons are involved in framework bonding,

where n = number of boron atoms in cluster.
 Wade's Rules

Tabular Summary of Wade's Rules

Classification and Electron Count of Boron Hydrides

Closo comes from the Greek for cage, Nido the Latin for nest, Arachno the Greek
for spider, Hypho the Greek for net, and Klado the Greek for branch.
 Polyhedral Boranes

[B6H6]2- B5H9 B4H10

Closo Nido Arachno

 Boron Clusters

closo boranes nido boranes arachno boranes

closed – B12H122- nest like – B11H15 spider web like- – B10H16
 Heteroboranes
Inclusion of Other Atoms in the Hydroborane Cage

Many derivatives of boranes containing other main group atoms are also known.

These heteroboranes may be classified by formally converting the heteroatom to a

BHx group having the same number of valence electrons.
 Borazole

Borazole is also called as Inorganic Benzene.

B3N3H6 C6H6

Total no. of e- : 3×5e- + 3×7e-+ 6×1e- 6×6e- + 6×1 e-

Electron count: 42e- 42e-

In borazole and benzene both have same number of electrons and also having similar
structure. So, these type of compounds are called as isoelectronic compounds. As a
result, Benzene and Borazole also have same type of hybridization i.e., sp2
 Properties of Borazole
Reactivity: Borazole has more reactivity than benzene due to having different
electronegative atoms in the ring structure. Due to this, there is a polarity in p-bond and
participate in addition reactions. But Benzene cannot participate in addition reactions as
p-bonds are more stable due to aromaticity.

a. Reaction with HCl: Borazole on reaction with HCl forms an

addition product(Saturated tri chloro Borazole).

B3N3H6 + 3HCl → B3N3H9Cl3

b. Reaction with ammonia: Borazole on reaction with ammonia forms
an addition product.
B3N3H6 + 3NH3 → B3N3H9 (NH2)3

c. Reaction with Bromine: Borazole on reaction with Bromine forms

an addition product.
B3N3H6 + 3Br2 → B3N3H6Br6

d. Reaction with water: Borazole on reaction with water forms an

addition product

B3N3H6 + 9H2O → 3H3BO3 + 3NH3 + 3H2

[3B(OH)3]