A benchmark photoelectron spectroscopic and theoretical study of the electronic stability of [BH].

We report a joint benchmark study on the electronic stability of closo-dodecaborate [BH] employing negative ion photoelectron spectroscopy and high level electronic structure methods. The photoelectron spectra of [BH], measured at 266, 193, and 157 nm, yield the Adiabatic and Vertical Detachment Energies (ADE and VDE) of this dianion at 0.93 ± 0.05 eV and 1.15 ± 0.05 eV, respectively, along with a ∼3 eV Repulsive Coulomb Barrier (RCB) against electron detachment. Theoretical calculations at various levels of electronic structure theory confirm the high stability of this dianion. The ADE and VDE values calculated at the coupled cluster with single, double and a perturbative estimate of triple excitations/aug-cc-PVQZ level are 0.92 and 1.16 eV, in excellent agreement with the experimental benchmark values. The comparison between the experimental and the theoretical values obtained at different levels of theory indicate that the PBE0 density functional represents a cost-effective method of sufficient accuracy to describe the molecular properties of this dianion and associated compounds. The theoretical RCB was modeled after the electrostatic potential (ESP) and point charge method (PCM) along three different detachment pathways, viz., along the B-H bond, perpendicular to a B-B bond, and normal to a B-B-B triangle. It was found that detachment of the electron along the B-H bond is preferred, as this pathway is associated with RCBs between 2.3 eV (PCM) and 3.3 eV (ESP), values that bracket the experimental estimate of ∼3 eV.