Perfect cubic La-doped boron clusters La6&[La@B24]+/0 as the embryos of low-dimensional lanthanide boride nanomaterials.

La-doped boron nanoclusters have received considerable attention due to their unique structures and bonding. Inspired by recent experimental observations of the inverse sandwich D 8h La2B8 (1) and triple-decker C 2v La3B14 - (2) and based on extensive global searches and first-principles theory investigations, we present herein the possibility of the perfect cubic La-doped boron clusters O h La6&[La@B24]+ (3, 1A1g) and O h La6&[La@B24] (4, 2A2g) which appear to be the embryos of the metallic one-dimensional La10B32 (5) nanowire, two-dimensional La3B10 (6) nanosheet, and three-dimensional LaB6 (7) nanocrystal, facilitating a bottom-up approach to build cubic lanthanide boride nanostructures from gas-phase clusters. Detailed molecular orbital and bonding analyses indicate that effective (d-p)σ, (d-p)π and (d-p)δ covalent coordination interactions exist in La6&[La@B24]+/0 (3/4) clusters, while the 1D La10B32 (5), 2D La3B10 (6), and 3D LaB6 (7) crystals exhibit mainly electrostatic interactions between the trivalent La centers and cubic B24 frameworks, with weak but discernible coordination contributions from La (5d) ← B (2p) back-donations. The IR and Raman spectra of La6&[La@B24]+/0 (3/4) and band structures of La10B32 (5) and La3B10 (6) are computationally simulated to facilitate their future characterizations.