JOURNAL OF T H E AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY (Registered in U. S. Patent Office)
VOLUMESO
(a
Copyright, 1958, by t h e American Chemical Society)
DECEMBER 17, 1938
NUMBER 23
PHYSICAL AND INORGANIC CHEMISTRY [*I COXIRIEiCTION
FROM THE P E N S S V L V A N I A STATE
UNIVERSITY, COLLEGE CHEMISTRY]
OF
CHEMISTRY AXD PHYSICS, DEPARTMENT O F
The Behavior of Diboron Tetrachloride toward Some of the Non-metallic Elements1 B Y E. F.APPLE ,4ND THOMAS WARTIK RECEIVEDJULY 7, 1958 Iliboron tetrachloride reacts readily with chlorine, bromine and oxygen at temperatures below room temperature Cleavage of the boron-to-boron bond occurs in these three cases, along with t h e formation of the appropriate boron trihalides KO tendency for diboron tetrachloride t o react with iodine, sulfur or white phosphorus \vas observed
-1lthough many types of boron compounds have been reported, particularly in recent years, diboron tetrachloride and its derivatives are the only simple substances known t o contain boron-to-boron single bonds. It is perhaps not surprising, therefore, that its chemistry is in many ways2 quite different from that of other boron-containing substances. The present investigations were undertaken to study the behavior of diboron tetrachloride with some of the non-metallic elements and with their hydrogen compounds. Future papers in this series will deal with the reactions of diboron tetrachloride with amines, with aromatic compounds and with hydrogen. Diboron tetrachloride is a colorless liquid which is somewhat thermally unstable a t room temperature. For this reason, its reactions generally were studied a t temperatures of 0" or below. In addition, the sensitivity of diboron tetrachloride t o atmospheric oxygen and moisture made it necessary t o carry out all investigations in the vacuum system. Due t o the low stability of BaC14,even the precautions mentioned were not sufficient to avoid decomposition completely. For this reason, reactions involving exact whole-number stoichiometries were the exception, rather than the rule. Diboron tetrachloride reacts readily with the inore electronegative elements, even below room temperature, and the reactions result in cleavage of the borot~-to-boror~ bond. ( I j P r e s e n t e d b e l u r r the 1 8 1 ~ 1mectitig u l t h e American Chemic;rl Society in Miami, Florida, April, 1957. (1) A. Stock, A. I k a n d t and I
