J.A.J. Pardoe et al. / Polyhedron 21 (2002) 543–548
545
an electrical discharge, there is energy available to form
exchange of PꢀF for PꢀCl was observed within the time
scale needed to exchange BꢀF for BꢀCl.
1
BCl in its singlet ground state, X S+, and also in its
3
triplet excited state, a P1, which lies 242 kJ mol−1
The stepwise nature of the above fluorine-for-chlo-
rine exchange process was revealed by 11B NMR spec-
troscopy. Liquid BCl3 was allowed to interact with
(F2B)3BCO for 50 min at 0 °C, followed by cooling to
−70 °C, pumping boron trihalides away and then
dissolving the remaining solid in CD2Cl2. The 11B–11B
COSY spectrum of the product is shown in Fig. 1.
Progressive replacement of F by Cl as (F2B)3BCO
converts to (Cl2B)3BCO can give a total of ten different
compounds containing combinations of BF2, BFCl and
BCl2 groups. The spectrum of Fig. 1 gives evidence for
at least eight of these ten possible structures. Consider-
ing first the four-coordinate boron environments rang-
ing in l values from −50.6 ppm for (F2B)3BCO to
−20.7 ppm for (Cl2B)3BCO. There are seven different
peaks corresponding to successive replacements of F by
Cl in compounds of type B4F6−xClxCO. The peaks at
−45.0 and −24.4 ppm are directly assignable to
(F2B)2(FClB)BCO and to (Cl2B)2(FClB)BCO, respec-
tively. Of the remaining three peaks, that at −29.0
ppm has an asymmetry indicating that both
(F2B)(Cl2B)2BCO and (Cl2B)(FClB)2BCO are present
although the precise positions of their respective reso-
nances cannot be resolved from the COSY spectrum.
The COSY spectrum also suggests that both
(F2B)(FClB)(Cl2B)BCO and (FClB)3BCO and both
(F2B)(Cl2B)2CO and (FClB)2(Cl2B)BCO contribute to
the peaks at −34.3 and −39.8 ppm, respectively. In
addition, the spectrum shows three broad resonances
corresponding to BF2, BFCl and BCl2 groups with
chemical shifts at +32.4, +50.8 and +68.9 ppm,
respectively. These values are similar to those previ-
ously reported for species of the type B2F4−xClx [19]; in
pure (BF2)3BCO, the chemical shift for the BF2 groups
is +31.3. The COSY spectrum shows how the 11B
chemical shifts for these BF2, BFCl and BCl2 groups
move slightly to higher field as the fluorine content of
the molecules increases.
above the ground state [9]. As suggested earlier [16], it
could be that B2Cl4 arises from insertion of singlet BCl
into the BꢀCl bonds of BCl3 while B4Cl4 arises from
aggregation of triplet BCl. If both singlet and triplet
BCl were condensed on a cold surface, polymerisation
of the latter may be the source of the observed B4Cl4.
The idea of forming a mixture of singlet and triplet
forms of BCl seems less obvious in relation to the work
on flash thermolysis. There would not appear to be
sufficient energy available at 1150 °C to form BCl in its
excited triplet state yet B4Cl4 is formed in amounts
similar to that observed from the discharge route. The
answer may lie in the mode of decomposition of B2Cl4
by the gas phase reaction of Eq. (1). As shown by
McKee for the flash thermolysis of 1,2-P2B4Cl4 [17],
energy barriers to apparently simple modes of decom-
position can be high, providing kinetic enhancement of
thermodynamically less favourable pathways. So flash
thermolysis of B2Cl4 could yield a mixture of the ex-
pected singlet BCl with some of the higher energy
triplet form.
Preparing BCl at 2000 °C in a heterogeneous reac-
tion from boron and BCl3 is likely to be a route to the
most thermodynamically favoured form, i.e. singlet,
ground state BCl, and this on condensation gives no
B4Cl4. All routes to BCl give some singlet BCl and it is
believed that this is the form most suited to react
efficiently with BCl3 to give B2Cl4 or to react with B2Cl4
to give (Cl2B)2BCl which is the precursor to
(Cl2B)3BCO.
It is clear from this research that more theoretical
work is needed to give a proper understanding of the
mode of formation of B4Cl4 from BCl.
3.2. Con6ersion of (F2B)3BCO to (Cl2B)3BCO by
reaction with BCl3
The conversions of B2F4 to B2Cl4 and of B2Cl4 to
B2Br4 by reaction with BCl3 and BBr3, respectively,
have been known for many years [4]. We have found
that halogen exchange also works well starting with
(F2B)3BCO and treating it with BCl3.
Reaction of (F2B)3BCO with BCl3 in the vapour
phase at room temperature gives a virtually quantita-
tive conversion to (Cl2B)3BCO in less than an hour with
liberation of BF3 [14]. This is by far the most conve-
nient preparation of (Cl2B)3BCO in our laboratories
because (F2B)3BCO can be made in gram quantities by
allowing the products formed by condensing BF at
−196 °C to warm to room temperature in the presence
3.3. Reaction of polyboron fluorides with BCl3
Boron trichloride has also been reacted with some of
the polyboron fluorides originating from condensation
of BF at −196 °C which contain eight or more boron
atoms [4]. The reactions have yielded a new, unstable
polyboron chloride, the detailed structure, of which can
not yet be assigned from the available NMR data.
Some explanation of the nature of the starting boron
fluoride materials is needed as single crystal X-ray
structures have only recently been obtained for two of
the polyboron fluorides, B8F12 and B10F12 [20]. The
structure of B8F12 differs from the diborane-like struc-
ture B2(BF2)6 proposed on the basis of its reactivity [7]
mainly through the presence of a short, central BꢀB
of CO gas.
A similar reaction occurs between
(F2B)3BPF3 [18] and BCl3 yielding (Cl2B)3BPF3 (show-
ing 11B resonances at l +65.9 and −17.1 ppm); no