Borane
Borane, also known as borine, is an unstable and highly reactive molecule with the chemical formula . The preparation of borane carbonyl, BH3(CO), played an important role in exploring the chemistry of boranes, as it indicated the likely existence of the borane molecule. However, the molecular species BH3 is a very strong Lewis acid. Consequently, it is highly reactive and can only be observed directly as a continuously produced, transitory, product in a flow system or from the reaction of laser ablated atomic boron with hydrogen. It normally dimerizes to diborane in the absence of other chemicals. Structure and properties BH3 is a trigonal planar molecule with D3h symmetry. The experimentally determined B–H bond length is 119 pm. In the absence of other chemical species, it reacts with itself to form diborane. Thus, it is an intermediate in the preparation of diborane according to the reaction: BX3 +BH4− → HBX3− + (BH3) (X=F, Cl, Br, I) 2 BH3 → B2H6 The standard enthalpy of dimerization of BH3 is estimated to be −170 kJ mol−1. The boron atom in BH3 has 6 valence electrons. Consequently, it is a strong Lewis acid and reacts with any Lewis base ('L' in equation below)