Carboranes (or carbaboranes) are electron-delocalized (non-classically bonded) clusters composed of boron, carbon and hydrogen atoms.[1] Like many of the related boron hydrides, these clusters are polyhedra or fragments of polyhedra. Carboranes are one class of heteroboranes.[2]
In terms of scope, carboranes can have as few as 5 and as many as 14 atoms in the cage framework. The majority have two cage carbon atoms. The corresponding C-alkyl and B-alkyl analogues are also known in a few cases.
- ^ Grimes, R. N., Carboranes 3rd Ed., Elsevier, Amsterdam and New York (2016), ISBN 9780128018941.
- ^ Greenwood, Norman N.; Earnshaw, Alan (1997). Chemistry of the Elements (2nd ed.). Butterworth-Heinemann. p. 181–189. ISBN 978-0-08-037941-8.