Inorganic Chemistry, Vol.46, No.7, 2892-2897, 2007
Induced currents and electron counting in aromatic boron wheels: B-8(2-) and B-9(-)
The newly discovered atom-centered polygonal wheels B-8(2-) and B-9(-) are predicted to show ring currents characteristic of aromatic systems. Ipsocentric mapping of induced current density for both molecules attributes a pi diatropic current to the four electrons of the doubly degenerate pi HOMO and a sigma diatropic current to the four electrons of the doubly degenerate sigma HOMO, each orbital pair having an available transition to corresponding LUMO orbitals in which the angular node count increases by one. Thus, on the magnetic criterion, B-8(2-) and B-9(-) are each both pi- and sigma-aromatic as a consequence of the nodal properties of the frontier orbitals of the pi-and sigma-stacks.