FBNCO: all the 2p-block elements in one molecule

Scientists in Italy have made a molecule with one of each of the 2p-block elements. Well, almost. There’s no neon in FBNCO but it would be a bit unfair to expect them to include an element with no known chemistry.

Giulia de Petris, from the University of Rome, and colleagues made the intriguing 35-electron radical by exploiting an ion–molecule reaction between BF₂⁺ and isocyanic acid. Observed in the gas phase for a minimum of 0.8 microseconds, its energetic features – a dissociation energy of 50kcal mol^–1 and an isomerisation energy of 21kcal mol^–1 – meet stability criteria required to describe the species as viable. The next step will be to isolate the species in the condensed phase.