Structure and Bonding

A general discussion of the structural and bonding characteristics of polyhedral boranes and their derivatives is given from the viewpoint of both localized-bond and electron-delocalized approaches, and methods for correlating cage geometry with skeletal electron count via systematic rules are outlined. Several topics that are more fully developed in later chapters are introduced, including cage rearrangement and isomer stability, aromaticity in cluster frameworks, and the notion of electron deficiency as applied to boron cage compounds.