Talk:Borohydride

Symbol

Shouldn't the symbol for denticity be a "kappa" -"monodentate (one hydrogen bridge), bidentate (two hydrogen bridges), and tridentate (three hydrogen bridges)[7] (η1, η2, or η3).[3]" — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.209.2.195 (talk) 01:14, 23 January 2014 (UTC)<!->

Tetrahydridoborate vs. tetrahydroborate

Dear all,

as a German chemist I consider "tetrahydroborate" wrong and would consider "tetrahydridoborate" the right name for BH₄^-. Even though you have Chemspider by the RSC as a reference I would consider if this is not accidentally wrong. The article NaBH₄ for instance also uses the term "hydridoborate" because "hydro" refers to water in inorganic chemistry. Maybe this is different in the English language and I just don't know, but maybe someone else could consider this? Regards --MHKlaproth (talk) 11:24, 10 April 2014 (UTC)

Larger borohydrides?

I attempted to look online for information about the dianion B2H6(-2), which would be isoelectronic to ethane, but couldn’t find anything. That’s because results for diborane came up instead, which has the same atomic composition but is a neutral molecule.

I see no reason why diborohydride shouldn’t exist, and indeed you’d think chemists would be interested in it (for instance, as a ligand that could bridge two metal ions). The nitrogen-based dication is known (it’s called hydrazinediium), so why isn’t there more written about diborohydride? Other hydrocarbons should likewise have borohydridic anion counterparts, though these might be more difficult to synthesize. 2604:2D80:6984:3800:0:0:0:8887 (talk) 05:48, 28 December 2023 (UTC)

there are multiple answers to your question. The main response is that chemists in general and Wikipedia in particular focus on notable compounds. BH4- is made on a large scale and is commonly on the lab shelf. Even if [B2H6]2- has been made, it enjoys zero uses. If Wikipedia described every theoretically possible material, the articles would be cluttered. One could ask a similar questions about [C2H6]2+ (doubly protonated ethylene), [BCH6]+. Another response: if you want larger borohydrides, try Dodecaborate, a famous cluster. There are lots of such things. Books have been written on the topic, most inorganic texts describe them at length, and a Nobel Prize was awarded to William Lipscomb on the topic. --Smokefoot (talk) 14:51, 28 December 2023 (UTC)