TRILITHIUM TETRADECARBORIDE LI3B14 - SYNTHESIS, STRUCTURE, AND PROPERTIES

The authors have identified three new phases on the boron-rich side, but could not confirm any of the older results. A careful comparison of all experimental data reported earlier with our results show that some so-called compounds are obviously phase mixtures. We report the boron richest compound Li//3B//1//4 equals LiB//4//. //6//7. Li//3B//1//4 represents a novel structure type. The boron atoms form two different clusters, namely the dodecahedral closo-B//8 cage and the hexadecahedral closo-B//1//0 cage, which are connected via external boron-boron bonds to a three-dimensional infinite framework // infinity **3 left bracket (B//8)(B//1//0)//2 right bracket . Each of the boron atoms is part of one of the cluster moities and is involved in one additional external bond to a neighboring cluster. 35 Refs.