Molecular-orbital studies on carbametallaboranes. Part 3. Tricapped trigonal prismatic carbaplatinaborane and related polyhedral molecules
Abstract
Extended Hückel molecular-orbital calculations are reported for the trigonal prismatic platinaboranes and carbaplatinaboranes [B8Pt(PH3)2}H8]2– and [B6C2{Pt(PH3)2}H8], and the observed conformations of these molecules have been accounted for in terms of the nodal characteristics of the frontier orbitals of the constituent Pt(PH3)2 and carbaborane fragments. A description of the bonding in the less symmetrical isomer of [B6C2{Pt(PH3)2}H8] has been similarly derived from an analysis of the effect of transforming nido-[B8H8]2– into arachno-[B8H8]2–.