title: Experimental and theoretical evidence of an axially chiral borospherene.
abstract: Chirality plays an important role in chemistry, biology, and materials science. The recent discovery of the B40(-/0) borospherenes marks the onset of a class of boron-based nanostructures. Here we report the observation of axially chiral borospherene in the B(39)(-) nanocluster on the bases of photoelectron spectroscopy, global minimum searches, and electronic structure calculations. Extensive structural searches in combination with density functional and CCSD(T) calculations show that B(39)(-) has a C3 cage global minimum with a close-lying C2 cage isomer. Both the C3 and C2 B(39)(-) cages are chiral with degenerate enantiomers. The C3 global minimum consists of three hexagons and three heptagons around the vertical C3 axis. The C2 isomer is built on two hexagons on the top and at the bottom of the cage with four heptagons around the waist. Both the C3 and C2 axially chiral isomers of B(39)(-) are present in the experiment and contribute to the observed photoelectron spectrum. The chiral borospherenes also exhibit three-dimensional aromaticity, featuring σ and π double delocalization for all valence electrons. Molecular dynamics simulations reveal that these chiral B(39)(-) cages are structurally fluxional above room temperature, compared to the highly robust D(2d)B40 borospherene. The current findings add chiral members to the borospherene family and indicate the structural diversity of boron-based nanomaterials.
authors.affiliation: Nanocluster Laboratory, Institute of Molecular Science, Shanxi University , Taiyuan 030006, China.
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Wei-Li
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Ya-Fan
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Su-Yan
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Han-Shi
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bai
authors.forename: Hai-Ru
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Wen-Juan
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: Hai-Gang
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Hua-Jin
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Zhai
authors.forename: Si-Dian
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Lai-Sheng
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D001895:Boron / Q000737:chemistry*; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D056004:Molecular Dynamics Simulation; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry; D056951:Photoelectron Spectroscopy; D011789:Quantum Theory; D013237:Stereoisomerism; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D001895:Boron
keywords: all-boron fullerene; axial chirality; borospherene; global minimum searches; photoelectron spectroscopy; σ and π double delocalization