Simulation of the Solid State Vibrational Spectra of Aminodichloroborane and Ammonia Boron Trichloride

This is the second part of a quantum chemical investigation on the reaction between boron trichloride and ammonia. In part I 9] we focused on the energetic course of successive chlorine substitutions which are relevant for the chemical vapor deposition of BN. In this work we analyze in detail the vibrational spectra of reaction products accessible at room temperature. Regarding an experimental IR spectrum of the condensation product of the reaction between BCl₃ and NH₃ 10], there are more signals than expected for monomeric aminodichloroborane. Since this molecule shows the tendency to oligomerize, we have studied whether the presence of aminodichloroborane dimers or trimers or an impurity of the ammonia boron trichloride complex – an intermediate from which aminodichloroborane is formed – can explain the shape of the measured spectrum. To this end we have calculated the vibrational frequencies of monomeric, dimeric, and trimeric BCl₂NH₂, H₃N · BCl₃, and several van der Waals complexes at the level of a Møller‐Plesset second order perturbation theory. For the verification of the methodology, the vibrational frequencies of the dimethylaminodichloroborane molecule have been determined, in good accord with experimental gas phase spectra. Also the solid state spectrum of H₃N · BCl₃ is well reproduced by the computed vibrational spectrum of the monomeric adduct and a hydrogen‐bonded aggregate. Our studies concerning the spectrum of the condensation product of the reaction of boron trichloride with ammonia indicate that the substance investigated by Kwon and McGee had contained, besides monomeric aminodichloroborane, also its trimer and ammonia boron trichloride.