{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,28]],"date-time":"2026-09-28T12:01:16Z","timestamp":1790596876693,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":30,"publisher":"AIP Publishing","issue":"12","funder":[{"name":"Ideal Vacuum Products LLC"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["pubs.aip.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,28]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>The elusive boron carbene (BCH2) free radical has been observed spectroscopically for the first time. The reactive species was generated in a free expansion discharge jet with a precursor mixture of trimethylboron (TMB) in high pressure argon. A 11BCH2 laser-induced fluorescence spectrum consisting of only two bands (000 and 201) was found in the 318\u2013305\u00a0nm region, in accord with our prior ab\u00a0initio predictions. Experiments utilizing TMB-d9 and isotopically enriched 10B TMB precursors confirmed the existence of the boron carbene species, despite the fact that it is predicted to be some 4000\u00a0cm\u22121 less stable than the HBCH global minimum. High resolution studies of the 0\u20130 bands of 11BCH2, 11BCD2, 10BCH2, and 10BCD2 have yielded the rotational constants and molecular structures of boron carbene in the excited C\u03032B2 and ground X\u03032A1 states. In sharp contrast to the other group 13 carbenes (MCH2; M = Al, Ga, In), which have 2B1 ground states and metal\u2013carbon single bonds, X\u03032A1 BCH2 has a boron\u2013carbon double bond with a length of 1.391(1) \u00c5, a consequence of the better orbital match of the boron 2s and 2p orbitals with those of methylene.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1063\/5.0348664","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,28]],"date-time":"2026-09-28T11:31:51Z","timestamp":1790595111000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1063\/aip-crossmark-policy-page","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["BCH2 exists"],"prefix":"10.1063","volume":"165","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0009-9087-8223","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tyler J.","family":"Herman","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Ideal Vacuum Products, LLC , 5910 Midway Park Blvd. NE, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87109,","place":["USA"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6708-5235","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Dennis J.","family":"Clouthier","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Ideal Vacuum Products, LLC , 5910 Midway Park Blvd. NE, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87109,","place":["USA"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"317","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"2026092807314681300_c1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"306","DOI":"10.1016\/0022-0248(72)90175-3","volume":"13\/14","year":"1972","journal-title":"J.\u00a0Cryst. 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