Pioneering the Power of Twin Bonds in a Revolutionary Double Bond Formation. Unveiling the True Identity of o-Carboryne as o-Carborene

Abstract

The homolytic elimination of two H atoms from two adjacent carbons in benzene results in the aromatic product o-benzyne. In a similar way, the homolytic elimination of two H atoms from the two adjacent carbons in 1,2-C2B10H12 results in the aromatic product o-carboryne. In this work, we provide experimental and computational evidences that despite the similarity of o-carboryne and o-benzyne, the nature of the C-C bond generated between two adjacent carbons that lose H atoms is different. While in o-benzyne the C-C bond behaves as a triple bond, in o-carboryne the C-C bond is a double bond. Therefore, we must stop naming o-carboryne to 1,2-dehydro-o-carborane but to call it o-carborene