Heats of formation of boron hydride anions and dianions and their ammonium salts [BnHmy-][NH4+]y with y=1-2

Thermochemical parameters of the closo boron hydride BnHn2- dianions, with n = 5-12, the B3H8- and B11H14- anions, and the B5H9 and B10H14 neutral species were predicted by high-level ab initio electronic structure calculations. Total atomization energies obtained from coupled-cluster CCSD(T)/complete basis set (CBS) extrapolated energies, plus additional corrections were used to predict the heats of formation of the simplest BnHmy- species in the gas phase in kcal/mol at 298 K: Delta H-f(B3H8-) = -23.1 +/- 1.0; Delta H-f(B5H52-) = 119.4 +/- 1.5; Delta H-f(B6H62-) = 64.1 +/- 1.5; and Delta H-f(B5H9) = 24.1 +/- 1.5. The heats of formation of the larger species were evaluated by the G3 method from hydrogenation reactions (values at 298 K, in kcal/mol with estimated error bars of +/- 3 kcal/mol): Delta H-f(B7H72-) = 51.8; Delta H-f(B8H82-) = 46.1; Delta H-f(B9H92-) = 24.4; Delta H-f(B10H102-) = -12.5; Delta H-f(B11H112-) = -11.8; Delta H-f(B12H122-) = -86.3; Delta H-f(B11H14-) = -57.3; and Delta H-f(B10H14) = 18.7. A linear correlation between atomization energies of the dianions and energies of the BH units was found. The heats of formation of the ammonium salts of the anions and dianions were predicted using lattice energies (U-L) calculated from an empirical expression based on ionic volumes. The U-L values (0 K) of the BnHn2- dianions range from 319 to 372 kcal/mol. The values of U-L for the B3H8- and B11H14- anions are 113 and 135 kcal/mol, respectively. The calculated lattice energies and gas-phase heats of formation of the constituent ions were used to predict the heats of formation of the ammonium crystal salts [BnHmy-][NH4+](y). These results were used to evaluate the thermodynamics of the H-2 release reactions from the ammonium hydro-borate salts.