Aromatic Borozene

Abstract

Based on our comprehensive theoretical investigation and known experimental results for small boron clusters, we predict the existence of a novel aromatic inorganic molecule, B₁₂H₆. This molecule, which we refer to as borozene, has remarkably similar properties to the well-known benzene. Borozene is planar, possesses a large first excitation energy, D_3hsymmetry, and more importantly is aromatic. Furthermore, the calculated anisotropy of the magnetic susceptibility of borozene is three times larger in absolute value than for benzene. Finally, we show that borozene molecules may be fused together to give larger aromatic compounds with even larger anisotropic susceptibilities.