Photofragmentation of closo-carboranes part 1: Energetics of decomposition.

The ionic fragmentation following B 1s and C 1s excitation of three isomeric carborane cage compounds [closo-dicarbadodecaboranes: orthocarborane (1,2-C2B10H12), metacarborane (1,7-C2B10H12), and paracarborane (1,12-C2B10H12)] is compared with the energetics of decomposition. The fragmentation yields for all three molecules are quite similar. Thermodynamic cycles are constructed for neutral and ionic species in an attempt to systemically characterize single-ion closo-carborane creation and fragmentation processes. Lower energy decomposition processes are favored. Among the ionic species, the photon-induced decomposition is dominated by BH+ and BH2(+) fragment loss. Changes in ion yield associated with core to bound excitations are observed.