Nonaborane and decaborane cluster anions can enhance the ignition delay in hypergolic ionic liquids and induce hypergolicity in molecular solvents.

The dissolution of nido-decaborane, B10H14, in ionic liquids that are hypergolic (fuels that spontaneously ignite upon contact with an appropriate oxidizer), 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide, 1-methyl-4-amino-1,2,4-triazolium dicyanamide, and 1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide, led to the in situ generation of a nonaborane cluster anion, B9H14, and reductions in ignition delays for the ionic liquids suggesting salts of borane anions could enhance hypergolic properties of ionic liquids. To explore these results, four salts based on B10H13 and B9H14, triethylammonium nido-decaborane, tetraethylammonium nido-decaborane, 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium arachno-nonaborane, and N-butyl-N-methyl-pyrrolidinium arachano-nonaborane were synthesized from nido-decaborane by reaction of triethylamine or tetraethylammonium hydroxide with nido-decaborane in the case of salts containing the decaborane anion or via metathesis reactions between sodium nonaborane (Na[B9H14]) and the corresponding organic chloride in the case of the salts containing the nonaborane anion. These borane cluster anion salts form stable solutions in some combustible polar aprotic solvents such as tetrahydrofuran and ethyl acetate and trigger hypergolic reactivity of these solutions. Solutions of these salts in polar protic solvents are not hypergolic.