Paramagnetism in Metallacarboranes: The Polyhedral Chromadicarbaborane Systems.
Szabolcs JákóAlexandru LupanAttila-Zsolt KunRobert Bruce KingPublished in: Inorganic chemistry (2017)
The chromadicarbaboranes CpCrC2Bn-3Hn-1 (8 ≤ n ≤ 12) are of interest in providing stable paramagnetic deltahedral metallaboranes among which the 12-vertex CpCrC2B9H11 has been synthesized by Hawthorne and co-workers. Density functional theory shows that the lowest-energy such structures are quartet spin-state Cr(III) structures in which the central CrC2Bn-3 units exhibit most spherical closo deltahedral geometries similar to those found in the borane dianions BnHn2-. Higher-energy doublet CpCrC2Bn-3Hn-1 (8 ≤ n ≤ 11) structures are found exhibiting central CrC2Bn-3 isocloso deltahedral geometries, thereby providing a degree 6 vertex for the chromium atom. The lowest-energy CpCrC2Bn-3Hn-1 (8 ≤ n ≤ 11) structures all have both carbon atoms at degree 4 vertices. However, the lowest-energy CpCrC2B9H11 structures all have central CrC2B9 icosahedra and thus lack degree 4 vertices for the carbon atoms. For all of the CpCrC2Bn-3Hn-1 (8 ≤ n ≤ 12) systems the lowest-energy isomers are those with the maximum number of Cr-C edges in contrast to the related CpCoC2Bn-3Hn-1 systems.