Inner Shell Excitation Spectroscopy of Transient Molecules: HBS, HBO and H₃B₃O₃

 L.E. Ennis and A.P. Hitchcock
Department of Chemistry, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada L8S 4M1

(Received 16 April 1999; accepted 2 June 1999)

Abstract
 Inner shell electron energy spectroscopy (ISEELS) was used to study HBS, HBO and H₃B₃O₃, reactive, transient species generated in situ. The reaction of H₂S with crystalline boron in a quartz tube was used to produce thioborine (HBS) at ~1100^oC, and borine (HBO) at ~1200^oC.  The reaction of H₂O vapor with crystalline boron in a quartz tube at ~1200^oC was used to produce boroxine (H₃B₃O₃). These species were identified from their inner shell excitation spectra and mass spectrometry. The B 1s, S 2s and S 2p ISEEL spectra of HBS, and the B 1s and O 1s spectra of HBO and H₃B₃O₃ are reported and analyzed with the help of GSCF3 ab initio calculations. A reaction scheme is proposed for the generation of HBO from the reaction of H₂S and boron in a heated quartz tube. @1999 American Institute of Physics [S0021-9606(99)01632-3]