Authors
Jin‐Chang Guo, Lin‐Yan Feng, Ying‐Jin Wang, Said Jalife, Alejandro Vásquez‐Espinal, José Luis Cabellos, Sudip Pan, Gabriel Merino, Hua‐Jin Zhai
Publication date
2017/8/14
Journal
Angewandte Chemie International Edition
Volume
56
Issue
34
Pages
10174-10177
Description
Two low‐lying structures are unveiled for the Be6B11 nanocluster system that are virtually isoenergetic. The first, triple‐layered cluster has a peripheral B11 ring as central layer, being sandwiched by two Be3 rings in a coaxial fashion, albeit with no discernible interlayer Be−Be bonding. The B11 ring revolves like a flexible chain even at room temperature, gliding freely around the Be6 prism. At elevated temperatures (1000 K), the Be6 core itself also rotates; that is, two Be3 rings undergo relative rotation or twisting with respect to each other. Bonding analyses suggest four‐fold (π and σ) aromaticity, offering a dilute and fluxional electron cloud that lubricates the dynamics. The second, helix‐type cluster contains a B11 helical skeleton encompassing a distorted Be6 prism. It is chiral and is the first nanosystem with a boron helix. Molecular dynamics also shows that at high temperature the helix cluster readily …
Total citations
2017201820192020202120222023202421017181412199
Scholar articles