Triels Flashcards
The Triels are
Group 13 elements
They all have ₙs² ₙp¹ configuration
Why is the chemistry of triels dominated around their electron deficiency?
- They all have 3 valence electrons
- So these elements can only ever have a minimum valance of three (3 covalent bonds)
- So can only have 6 electrons around them
- Which is short of a full ocetet
- Therefore they are electron pair acceptors or lewis acids
- e.g. BF₃ gaining a LP from diethyl ether
What is the term for the following reaction?
3MX → 2M + MX₃
- Disproportionation
- two of the atoms are reduced (+1 to 0)
- one atom is oxidised (+1 to 3+)
Why does the +1 oxidation state become more stable as the group descended
- Inert pair effect
- (the tendency of the electrons in the outermost atomic s orbital to remain unionised or unshared in compounds of the group 13-16 elements)
What happens to the size of the atom radius (pm) as you go down group 13?
- The atomic radii increases going down group 13
- This effect results from the fact outer electrons are being places in orbitals with increasing principial quantum numbers
- Hence lie further away from the nucleus
What happens to the first ioniation energy (kJ/mol) as you go down group 13?
- Aluminium is lower than boron due to the outer electrons being further away from the nucleus, hence experiencing less nuclear charge
- However it stabilises from aluminum
- Ga, In and Tl are proceeded by d-block and f-block electrons which do not provide effective shielding (d-block and f-block contraction)
What are the most common oxidation states for group 13 elements?
- +3 is the most common oxidiation state
- Apart from Thallium where it is +1 due to the inert pair effect
The complex shown below is borax
What is the hybridisation of the boron unit on the left and how does this enable extra stability of the complex?
- the boron has a trigonal planar shape, hence is sp² hybridised
- This means it has a empty p-orbital
- This allows for oxygen to back donate some of its electron density (pπ-pπ interaction)
The complex shown below is borax
What is the hybridisation of the central boron unit
Central boron has a tetrahedral shape and is sp³ hybridised
How can BF₃ participate in π-bonding
- The boron is sp² hybridised
- uses all 3 valance electrons to form covalent bonds with F
- The LP on fluorine can back donate to boron (pπ-pπ) giving some partial pi-bond character
- This strengths the bond and locks boron into an sp³ planar geometry
The π-bonding in BF₃ is not strong (large electronegativity difference between B and F) it still has a major influence on the properties
How?
- Fluorine is the most electronegative compared to other halogens
- Hence should be the strongest lewis acid (electron reciever) based on electron pulling ability
- However: BI₃>BBr₃>BCl₃>BF₃ (it is the weakest)
- This is due to π-bonding, which other larger halides cannot do due to large diffuse orbitals = poor overlap
- The π-bonding means the boron in BF₃ is less electron deficient
How do the non-fluoride halides for group 13 bond, if they cannot π-bond well?
- The non-fluoride halides for the other elements dimeries, e.g.AlCl₃ (to Al₂Cl₆)
What is the product of the following reaction?
- We’ll firstly form a lewis acid-based addut (now tetrahdral with 4 bond, however a valency of 3)
- HX can then be eliminated (e.g. HF) and form a trigonal planar trivalent boron again
- If there is an excess of alcohol, X can be substituted multiple times for the alcohol
What halide can this following reaction not occur for?
BF₃ resists
Due to the strong B-F bonds
There is no thermodynamic driving force for the second part of the reaction (breaking the B-F bond)
But will still act as a lewis acid like in the first step
Across Al, Ga, In, which has the greater stability of the acid-base (Ligand) complex for fluoride
- MF₃L > MCl₃L > MBr₃L > MI₃L
- (this is opposite if M was boron)
- The reason for this is pπ-pπ back-donation can no longer occur as the valance orbitals are too far away (hence longer M-X bonds)
- Therefore the trend is based soely on electronegativity
What is Borane?
And what is the bonding and structure like?
- It is a boron hydride complex
- B cannot π-bond with H (no lone pairs) - and the lack of electron density at boron because of this makes it a strong lewis acid
- Hence forms a dimer
What is special about the planar B-H bonds in Borane
- The B-H-B (banana) bonds have 3 centres with 2 electrons
- (ususally there should be 2 centres with 2 electrons)
- AND valance bond theory fails here. It cannot account for this bonding are there is not enough valance electrons
For each Boron atom in Borate, which orbitals do we have left to bond together the bridging B-H-B units?
- Each boron atom is sp³ hybridised
- For the dashed and wedged bonds 8 valence electrons are needed
- Which 2x sp³ hybrids are used to form those bonds
- Therefore remaining for the B-H-B bonds: 2x sp³ and 2x 1s orbitals from the bridging hydrogens
Which of the following orbitals from Boron and hydrogen can lead to a bonding interaction?
- B₁ and S₁ are of the same symmetry (in-phase and out-of-phase additions lead to bonding and antibonding MOs)
- B₃ and S₂ are of the same symmetry (in-phase and out-of-phase additions lead to bonding and antibonding MOs)
- B₂ and B₄ do not have complimentary symmetry to either S₁ or S₂ group orbitals (leading to non-bonding MOs)
How many electrons are left to feed into the B-H-B planar (banana) bonds
(hint: 12 valance electrons in total (6 from B’s; 6 from H’s))
- valance electrons used up in forming the four terminal B-H bonds
- Therefore 4 electrons to feed into the B-H-B units
- 4 B-H bonds - each has a bond order of 1/2 - 2 electrons delocalised across each B-H-B bond
- 3-centre 2-electron bond