According to quantumchemical calculations the boron buckyball, B 80 , is very similar to the buckminsterfullerene carbon analogue. Both allotropes have a truncated icosahedral structure, which in the case of boron is complemented by an additional set of 20 boron atoms, capping the 20 hexagonal faces.1 The HOMO and LUMO of icosahedral B 80 have the same symmetry as their counterparts in C 60 , and moreover very similar shapes (Fig. 1). On the other hand the perfectly symmetrical I h structure of B 80 is not a local minimum, but relaxes to a slightly puckered cage with T h symmetry.2 In a recent contribution Prasad and Jemmis argue that BB 80 and C 60 are isoelectronic, both having 240 valence electrons. This implies that the 60 electrons on the caps are transferred to the 60 vertices of the truncated icosahedron, to make up for the electron deficiency of boron versus carbon. Hence:In order to claim the same bonding pattern for both buckyballs, not only the total electron counts must be equal, but the symmetries of the occupied valence orbitals also must show a perfect match. Here we analyze the chemical bonding in B 80 and indeed demonstrate the symmetry correspondence of the occupied orbitals. Furthermore we identify the electron transfer channels between the caps and the frame.

Two leapfrog isomers of a B(112) boron fullerene are constructed from small C(28) fullerenes (T(d) and D(2) symmetries) by the leapfrog transformation combined with omnicapping of the new hexagons. Their electronic structure is analyzed using the density functional theory at the B3LYP/SVP and BHLYP/SVP levels. Both isomers are characterized as minima on the potential energy hypersurface with a HOMO-LUMO gap at B3LYP/SVP of 1.7 eV and 1.6 eV (3.1 and 3.0 eV at BHLYP/SVP), respectively. The optimized structure of the helical D(2)-leapfrog is asymmetric, due to radial displacements of the capping atoms. The computed cohesive energies amount to -4.2 eV (∼0.04 eV lower than B(80)). The B(112) isomers are isoelectronic to T(d)-C(84) and D(2)-C(84), and HOMO and LUMO orbitals in both isomers closely resemble those of their C(84) homologues. Energetic stability of leapfrog boron fullerenes depends on the isolation of empty hexagon criterion, which is defined by the empty hexagon index based on the total number of empty hexagon pairs and empty hexagon-pentagon fused pairs. The switch of the cap atom to the nearest or farthest empty hexagon destabilizes the cage by 1.6 and 2.7 eV, respectively. The destabilization becomes more enhanced in non-leapfrog structures wherein more caps are displaced.

Density functional theory calculations at the B3LYP/SVP and B3LYP/6-311G(d) levels were carried out for a series of XH(3)B(80) complexes with X = {N, P, As, B, Al}. To probe the regioselectivity of B(80), the electronic Fukui function, the molecular electrostatic potential (MEP), and the natural bond orbital (NBO) were determined. These indices were shown to provide reliable guides to predict the relative reactivities of the boron buckyball sites. Thermodynamic stabilities of the complexes formed by the reaction of B(80) with nucleophiles (NH(3), PH(3), AsH(3)) and electrophiles (BH(3), AlH(3)) are in good agreement with the prediction of regioselectivity indicated on the basis of Fukui and MEP indices. The qualitative results suggest the boron buckyball to be an amphoteric and hard molecule. It has two distinct reactive sites localized on caps and frame, which act as acids and bases, respectively. Most of the complexes are stable with formation energies comparable to that of the analogous complexes of the borane molecule, BH(3)BH(3), BH(3)NH(3), and BH(3)AlH(3). The B-H-B bond characteristics of diborane are recovered in B(80)BH(3). Exohedral complexes are more stable than endohedral complexes. The most stable complexes are those with NH(3) on the caps and BH(3) on the pentagonal ring of B(80).

Nitro–nitrito isomerization in Co(NH3)5NO22+ linkage isomers was investigated with a focus on the geometries, relative stabilities and chemical bonding using ωB97XD/6-31+G(d,p) to elucidate the photo-salient effect in [Co(NH3)5NO2]NO3Cl.

The lowest-lying isomer of the B50 boron cluster is confirmed to have a quasi-planar shape with two hexagonal holes. This cluster is derived from a topological (leapfrog) path from B10 and its high thermodynamical stability is due to a disk aromaticity.