Strong beryllium–beryllium bonds

Metal-metal bonds have attracted the attention of chemists for a long time. The nature of metal-metal bonds spans from covalent single to multiple bonds. However, a dative bond between two identical metals in a homo-bimetallic complex is very rare. Herein, we propose a strong beryllium-beryllium dative bond in the [OBeBeF]^- complex based on <i>ab initio</i> calculations. The computed bond dissociation energy is significantly high (329 kJ mol^-1), making it one of the strongest Be-Be bonds ever reported.