Imma Perfetto
Cosmos science journalist
German researchers have created a molecule with a triple bond between carbon and boron, creating in the process a new molecule and opening up unexplored possibilities in the world of chemistry.
The discovery could help chemists better understand chemical bonds and structures.
“Basic research like ours inspires other researchers to put their efforts and imagination into synthesising compounds that might seem improbable,” says Dr Rian Dewhurst of Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, co-author of the study describing the finding in the journal Nature Synthesis.
“World-changing advances often emerge from these kinds of crazy ideas.”
In chemistry, the elements boron (B), carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and oxygen (O) can form triple bonds with each other, in which 2 atoms share 3 pairs of electrons. Before now, chemists had been able to form all possible combinations of triple bonds between these elements in the laboratory, except for boron and carbon.
The new molecule, which has been called a boryne, exists as an orange solid at room temperature. The boron atom within it is in a linear arrangement with 2 carbon atoms, one of which it shares a triple bond.
“In combination with the triple bond, this [linear arrangement] is about as uncomfortable as it gets for boron, requiring very special conditions,” says Dewhurst.
This is why it has taken so long to synthesise a boron carbon triple bond.
The researchers expect the boryne to react interestingly with other substances. The team’s work will now focus on understanding this reactivity, which may ultimately result in innovative new tools for chemical synthesis.
