Talk:Octadecaborane

Structure/terminology confusion

The Olsen-1968 ref talks about two geometric isomers identified as "n" and "i", but the Londesborough-2012 ref talks about "syn" and "anti" isomers. From their diagrams and descriptions, these seem like the same pair of isomers. Borane chemistry isn't my specialty, so I don't know if there is some other difference I'm not seeing, or if terminology for this class was changed in in the intervening years. DMacks (talk) 20:27, 30 June 2014 (UTC)

Olsen mentions that the two have been "characterized by X-ray diffraction studies", citing:

• Simpson, P. G.; Lipscomb, W. N. (1962). "Molecular Structure of B₁₈H₂₂" (PDF). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 48 (9): 1490–1491. PMC 220984. PMID 16590990.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Simpson, Paul G.; Folting, Kirsten; Dobrott, Robert D.; Lipscomb, William N. (1963). "Molecular, Crystal, and Valence Structures of Iso‐B₁₈H₂₂". J. Chem. Phys. 39 (9): 2339–2348. doi:10.1063/1.1701439.

and

• Simpson, Paul G.; Folting, Kirsten; Lipscomb, William N. (1963). "The Molecular Structure of i-B₁₈H₂₂". J. Am. Chem. Soc. 85 (12): 1879–1880. doi:10.1021/ja00895a046.
• Simpson, Paul G.; Lipscomb, William N. (1963). "Molecular, Crystal, and Valence Structures of B₁₈H₂₂". J. Chem. Phys. 39 (1): 26–34. doi:10.1063/1.1734029.

That doi:10.1021/ja00895a046 has nice perspective diagrams comparing them. DMacks (talk) 16:22, 2 July 2014 (UTC)