Electron-Deficient and Polycenter Bonds in the High-Pressure γ-B28 Phase of Boron

The peculiar bonding situation in gamma boron is characterized on the basis of an experimental electron-density distribution which is obtained by multipole refinement against low-temperature single-crystal x-ray diffraction data. A topological analysis of the electron-density distribution reveals one-electron-two-center bonds connecting neighboring icosahedral B-12 clusters. A unique polar-covalent two-electron-three-center bond between a pair of atoms of an icosahedral cluster and one atom of the interstitial B-2 dumbbell explains the observed charge separation in this high-pressure high-temperature polymorph of boron.