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Borospherene (B40) is a cluster molecule containing 40 boron atoms. It is similar to
Borospherene (B40) is a cluster molecule containing 40 boron atoms. It is similar to buckminsterfullerene
Buckminsterfullerene is a type of fullerene with the formula C60. It has a cage-like fused-ring structure (truncated icosahedron) made of twenty hexagons and twelve pentagons, and resembles a soccer ball. Each of its 60 carbon atoms is bonded ...
, the "spherical" carbon structure, but with a different symmetry. The discovery of borospherene was announced in July 2014, and is described in the journal ''Nature Chemistry
''Nature Chemistry'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Nature Portfolio. It was established in April 2009. The editor-in-chief is Stuart Cantrill. The journal covers all aspects of chemistry. Publishing formats include prim ...
''. Borospherene is similar to other cluster molecules, including buckminsterfullerene (C60), stannaspherene, and plumbaspherene. The molecule includes unusual heptagon
In geometry, a heptagon or septagon is a seven-sided polygon or 7-gon.
The heptagon is sometimes referred to as the septagon, using "sept-" (an elision of ''septua-'', a Latin-derived numerical prefix, rather than '' hepta-'', a Greek-derived nu ...
al faces.
Structure
Borospherene has a unique axis of symmetry (a 180° rotation), so it is not really "spherical" like buckminsterfullerene (which hasicosahedral symmetry
In mathematics, and especially in geometry, an object has icosahedral symmetry if it has the same symmetries as a regular icosahedron. Examples of other polyhedra with icosahedral symmetry include the regular dodecahedron (the dual polyhedr ...
). Its symmetry group is D2d (antiprismatic symmetry
In geometry, dihedral symmetry in three dimensions is one of three infinite sequences of point groups in three dimensions which have a symmetry group that as an abstract group is a dihedral group Dih''n'' (for ''n'' ≥ 2).
Types
Ther ...
, like a baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...
). It includes 48 boron triangles between four seven-sided rings and two six-membered rings. There are four sets of eight equivalent boron atoms, and two sets of four equivalent atoms. Each boron atom binds to four or five other boron atoms (see illustration in article from Brown University).
Lai-Sheng Wang, professor of chemistry at Brown University, modeled possible B40 structures on computer. Two forms were predicted – a sheet-like structure and a closed cage. Photoelectron spectroscopy
Photoemission spectroscopy (PES), also known as photoelectron spectroscopy, refers to energy measurement of electrons emitted from solids, gases or liquids by the photoelectric effect, in order to determine the binding energies of electrons in th ...
revealed that the substance formed in the laboratory was this cage. The structure of the cage is not perfectly uniform – "Several atoms stick out a bit from the others, making the surface of borospherene somewhat less smooth than a buckyball" according to Wang.
See also
*Allotropes of boron
Boron can be prepared in several crystalline and amorphous forms. Well known crystalline forms are α-rhombohedral (α-R), β-rhombohedral (β-R), and β-tetragonal (β-T). In special circumstances, boron can also be synthesized in the form of ...
*Borophene
Borophene is a crystalline atomic monolayer of boron, i.e., it is a two-dimensional allotrope of boron and also known as ''boron sheet''.
First predicted by theory in the mid-1990s,
different borophene structures were experimentally confirmed ...
References
External links
*{{Commonscatinline Allotropes of boron Fullerenes