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Dilead hexahydride is listed on Wikipedia as a compound composed of two lead atoms, and six hydrogen atoms:

  H  H
  |  |
H-Pb-Pb-H
  |  |
  H  H

As the wikipedia page for this compound does not exist, and Google scholar, along with Google, show no results on it, it's suggested that this is an artificial chemical that might have to be created in a similar manner to plumbane (PbH4).

How is dilead hexahydride synthesised?

My secondary question is, what are it's properties/characteristics? (if any info can be obtained?)

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    $\begingroup$ Even PbH4 was only made about 20 years ago. I doubt diplumban is gonna be made anytime soon. $\endgroup$
    – Mithoron
    Commented Oct 8, 2022 at 19:28
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    $\begingroup$ doi.org/10.1002/chem.200400525 predicts low $\ce{H3Pb-PbH3}$ bond dissociation energy, so let me state the obvious: diplumbane should be quite unstable. Wiberg's Anorganische Chemie, 2017, says $\ce{Pb2H6}$ is an unknown compound. $\endgroup$
    – andselisk ♦
    Commented Oct 8, 2022 at 19:43
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    $\begingroup$ This blows lead based life forms out of the water! Is there still hope for silicon, germanium, and tin? $\endgroup$
    – jimchmst
    Commented Oct 8, 2022 at 22:48
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    $\begingroup$ @jimchmst Umm, not exactly. Tetraethyllead was added to fuel, so I think there could be plenty of chain derivatives, just not much of binary hydrides, that are somewhat unstable even for silicone. $\endgroup$
    – Mithoron
    Commented Oct 8, 2022 at 23:28
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    $\begingroup$ Plumbane: chemistry.stackexchange.com/a/162199/17368 $\endgroup$
    – Nilay Ghosh
    Commented Oct 9, 2022 at 4:25

1 Answer 1

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Apparently diplumbane itself is not well enough known to appear in amy casual Google search. According to andselisk in a comment citing Wiberg's Anorganische Chemie (2017), $\ce{Pb2H6}$ is unknown.

However, some substituted diplumbanes appear to be more stable. hexaphenyldiplumbane, $\ce{Pb2(C6H5)6}$, appears to have known spectra, including the complex pattern below for protons in $\ce{CDCl3}$ solvent1. The complexity of the pattern suggests the phenyl groups are not equivalent in this compound. Since lead (and other Group 14 elements) has larger atoms than carbon, the structure follows the substituted ethane model unlike "hexaphenylethane"; the same is true with other Group 14 elements besides carbon in place of lead.

enter image description here

Reference

  1. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. SpectraBase; SpectraBase Compound ID=1WQFC6VQS6Z SpectraBase Spectrum ID=6esVxgAw9qV

https://spectrabase.com/spectrum/6esVxgAw9qV (accessed Oct 8, 2022).

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    $\begingroup$ This is not an answer to the question, while the observation of Pb2Ph6 is interesting, it does not answer the question about Pb2H6. $\endgroup$
    – Nuclear Chemist
    Commented Oct 9, 2022 at 12:07
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    $\begingroup$ Apparently, protonated diplumbane $\ce{Pb2H7+}$ have been predicted to be energetically favorable to varying degrees. $\endgroup$
    – Nilay Ghosh
    Commented Oct 9, 2022 at 17:18
  • $\begingroup$ @NuclearChemist please see my update. On this basis the claim should be resolved. $\endgroup$
    – Oscar Lanzi
    Commented Oct 9, 2022 at 17:19
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    $\begingroup$ @NilayGhosh I saw this. One notable feature: the proton inserts itself into the lead-lead bond si that the protonated species no longer has a direct bond between the lead atoms. $\endgroup$
    – Oscar Lanzi
    Commented Oct 9, 2022 at 17:20
  • $\begingroup$ The Pb2H7 ion is interesting, maybe it has a three centre two electron bond. But the species is clearly not something with a Pb-Pb bond. I reason that Pb2H7 could be reasoned to relate to MeOMe while Pb2H6 could be argued to relate to ethane. $\endgroup$
    – Nuclear Chemist
    Commented Oct 11, 2022 at 3:28