Strong beryllium–beryllium bonds

Abstract

Metal–metal bonds have attracted the attention of chemists for a long time. The nature of metal–metal bonds spans from covalent single to multiple bonds. However, a dative bond between two identical metals in a homo-bimetallic complex is very rare. Herein, we propose a strong beryllium–beryllium dative bond in the [OBeBeF]⁻ complex based on ab initio calculations. The computed bond dissociation energy is significantly high (329 kJ mol⁻¹), making it one of the strongest Be–Be bonds ever reported.