The general chemistry of the boron hydrides

Abstract

The boron hydrides in general are volatile, highly reactive substances. Their low boiling points (see Table 4-1) reflect their low molecular weights and feeble intermolecular forces. Their reactivities have a thermodynamic origin in that these compounds are markedly unstable with respect to replacement of their boron-boron and boron-hydrogen links by bonds to more electronegative elements. Some thermodynamic data bearing on this are in Tables 4-1 and 4-2.