A stable doubly hydrogen-bridged butterfly-shaped diborane(4) compound.

In contrast to the common multiple bonding between carbon atoms, multiply bonded boron compounds have still been a synthetic challenge due to the electron deficiency of boron. We now report that a stable doubly hydrogen-bridged diborane(4), EindB(mu-H)(2)BEind, is produced by the two-electron oxidation of a hydrogen-substituted diborane(4) dianion [Li(+)(thf)](2)[Eind(H)BB(H)Eind](2-), where Eind denotes the 1,1,3,3,5,5,7,7-octaethyl-s-hydrindacen-4-yl. The X-ray crystallography reveals a short B-B distance of 1.4879(7) A in comparison with the normal B-B single bond length (1.72 A), the presence of two hydrogen atoms bridged perpendicular to the B-B bond with a butterfly shape having a dihedral angle of the two BHB triangles of 113(1) degrees, and a linear geometry around the B-B bond with a C-B-B bond angle of 178.92(4) degrees. These structural data, experimental electron density analysis, and computational studies confirm the 3-fold bonding (a sigma and two pi-like bonds) between the two boron atoms incorporating the two bridging hydrogen atoms.