Diborane(4) is a transient

inorganic compound An inorganic compound is typically a chemical compound that lacks carbon–hydrogen bonds⁠that is, a compound that is not an organic compound. The study of inorganic compounds is a subfield of chemistry known as ''inorganic chemistry''. Inorgan ...

with the

chemical formula A chemical formula is a way of presenting information about the chemical proportions of atoms that constitute a particular chemical compound or molecule, using chemical element symbols, numbers, and sometimes also other symbols, such as pare ...

. Stable derivatives are known. Diborane(4) has been produced by abstraction of two hydrogen atoms from diborane(6) using atomic fluorine and detected by

photoionization Photoionization is the physical process in which an ion is formed from the interaction of a photon with an atom or molecule. Cross section Not every interaction between a photon and an atom, or molecule, will result in photoionization. The prob ...

mass spectrometry. Computational studies predict a structure in which are two hydrogen atoms bridging the two boron atoms via three-centre two-electron bonds in addition to the 2-centre, 2-electron bond between the two boron atoms and one terminal hydrogen atom bonded to each boron atom. Several stable derivatives of diborane(4) have been reported.

References

Boranes {{Inorganic-compound-stub