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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Dec 19, 2025

Author Spotlight: Experimental Approaches for the Synthesis of Low-Valent Metal-Organic Frameworks from Multitopic Phosphine Linkers

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Published on: May 12, 2023

Spherical trihedral metallo-borospherenes.

Teng-Teng Chen¹, Wan-Lu Li², Wei-Jia Chen¹

¹Department of Chemistry, Brown University, Providence, RI, 02912, USA.

Nature Communications

|June 4, 2020

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Scientists discovered novel metallo-borospherenes where metal atoms are part of the cage surface, not just enclosed. This finding expands the understanding of boron

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Published on: April 9, 2018

Area of Science:

Boron chemistry
Nanomaterials
Supramolecular chemistry

Background:

Boron's capacity to form fullerene-like cages (borospherenes) is known.
Endohedral metallofullerenes typically entrap metal atoms within cages.
Incorporation of metal atoms into fullerene cages is rare.

Purpose of the Study:

To report the observation of a new class of metallo-borospherenes.
To investigate structures where metal atoms are integral to the cage surface.
To explore the bonding and geometry of these novel compounds.

Main Methods:

Synthesis of La3B18- and Tb3B18- anions.
Photoelectron spectroscopy for structural and bonding analysis.
Theoretical calculations including global minimum searches.

Main Results:

Observation of metallo-borospherenes with metal atoms on the cage surface.
Identification of stable hollow cages with D3h symmetry for Ln3B18-.
Detailed structural model of the B18 framework coordinated to lanthanide atoms.

Conclusions:

Metallo-borospherenes represent a new class of cage compounds.
These structures exhibit unusual geometries not previously observed in chemistry.
The findings expand the scope of boron's coordination chemistry.