Some Important Compounds of Boron

Some Important Compounds of Boron

Boron forms a wide range of compounds, but three of them carry the most weight in the NCERT syllabus and in industrial chemistry: borax ($Na_2B_4O_7 \cdot 10H_2O$), orthoboric acid ($H_3BO_3$), and diborane ($B_2H_6$). Each is built on the same underlying theme running through this chapter — boron's small size, its complete lack of accessible d orbitals, and the resulting electron-deficiency of its bonding — yet each compound expresses that theme very differently: borax as a mineral salt and industrial flux, orthoboric acid as a Lewis-acidic, hydrogen-bonded solid, and diborane as an electron-deficient hydride with unusual three-centre bridge bonds. The three sub- …