Boron Hydrides
Boranes (boron hydrides) are notable for:
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About This Question
- Subject
- chemistry
- Chapter
- p-block elements
- Topic
- boron hydrides
- Difficulty
- Hard
- Year
- 2025
Solution
Correct Answer:
Electron-deficient multicenter bonding
- Electron Deficiency: Boron has only 3 valence electrons. In Diborane (B2H6), there are not enough electrons to form normal 2-center 2-electron (2c−2e) bonds between all atoms.
- Multicenter Bonds: To account for the stability, Boron forms 3-center 2-electron (3c−2e) bonds, often called banana bonds, which bridge two Boron atoms together via a Hydrogen atom.
- Clustering: This unique bonding allows boranes to form complex, closed polyhedral clusters (deltahedral structures).
- Lewis Acidity: Because they are electron-deficient, boranes often act as Lewis acids, seeking electron-rich species.
This hard difficulty chemistry question is from the chapter p-block elements, covering the topic of boron hydrides. It appeared in the 2025 exam.
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