Exohedral multiple bonding in polyhedra. 2. Skeletal distortions in ring-stacked boranes

Ring-stacked boranes of the B(10)H(10)(2)(-) and B(12)H(12)(2)(-) type, when substituted with lone pair bearing groups such as -O, -NH, and -S at the para positions, are theoretically shown to exhibit exopolyhedral multiple bonding on oxidation. Successive removal of two and four electrons from the parent B(n)H(n)(-)(2)X(2) results in highly varied and intriguing skeletal deformations that are explained using fragment molecular theory.