Decaborotetradecahydride, B₁₀H₁₄

When the hydride B₄H₁₀ is heated for four or five hours to 100°, or when the hydride B₂H₆ is heated for forty- eight hours to 115° to 120°, a volatile solid hydride, B₁₀H₁₄, is produced.

This hydride is a colourless solid of peculiar odour resembling that of osmium tetroxide. It sublimes in vacuo at 60° to 80°, producing beautiful long needles of density 0.94. It melts at 99.5° to a colourless liquid that does not decompose below 200°. The molecular weight in benzene solution and the percentage composition are in harmony with the molecular formula B₁₀H₁₄.

The hydride is soluble in alcohol, ether, benzene, and carbon disulphide. It is not decomposed by air or water, is little affected by nitric acid, but is oxidised by potassium permanganate. It dissolves in alkalies, forming a yellow solution.

When prepared from B₄H₁₀ or B₂H₆ by heating, the hydride B₁₀H₁₄ is accompanied by two other non-volatile solid boron hydrides, which are also produced when B₁₀H₁₄ is heated: (i.) a yellow hydride, probably (B₅H₄)_x, insoluble in carbon disulphide and decomposed by water; and (ii.) a colourless hydride, probably B₁₂H_x, soluble in carbon disulphide, not decomposed by water, and converted into (i.) at 150°.