Carboranes in the chemist's toolbox.

Once seldom encountered outside of a few laboratories, carboranes are now everywhere, playing a role in the development of a broad range of technologies encompassing organic synthesis, radionuclide handling, drug design, heat-resistant polymers, cancer therapy, nanomaterials, catalysis, metal-organic frameworks, molecular machines, batteries, electronic devices, and more. This perspective highlights selected examples in which the special attributes of carboranes and metallacarboranes are being exploited for targeted purposes in the laboratory and in the wider world.

Electronic properties of mononuclear, dinuclear, and polynuclear cobaltacarboranes: electrochemical and spectroelectrochemical studies.

Electronic interactions and metal-metal communication in a wide range of cobaltacarborane-hydrocarbon complexes containing one to six metal centers, and exhibiting a variety of modes of inter-cage connectivity and molecular architectures, have been investigated via cyclic voltammetry, controlled potential coulometry, and UV-visible spectroelectrochemistry. The properties of mixed-valent Co(III)/Co(IV) and Co(II)/Co(III) species that are generated on oxidation or reduction of dinuclear and polynuclear Co(III) complexes were examined and classified as Robin-Day Class I (localized), Class II (partially delocalized), or Class III (fully delocalized) systems. The extent of metal-metal communication between metallacarborane cage units is strongly influenced by the type of intercage connection (e.

New Metallacarborane Chemistry: Molybdenum and Tungsten Carbonyl Multidecker Sandwiches. Cluster Dimers Linked via Metal-Metal Bonds(1).

This article reports the synthesis, characterization, and chemistry of the first molybdenum and tungsten complexes bearing small carborane ligands, including novel M-M-linked dicluster species. The reaction of the nido-2,3-Et(2)C(2)B(4)H(4)(2)(-) dianion with (RCN)(3)M(CO)(3) reagents (M = Mo, W; R = Me, Et) gave the (Et(2)C(2)B(4)H(4))M(CO)(3)(2)(-) anions, which were isolated as lithium (12-crown-4) salts 1b (M = Mo) and 2b (M = W). Treatment of 1b and 2b with Ph(4)PX (X = Cl, Br, I) followed by triflic acid afforded the dimeric products [(Et(2)C(2)B(4)H(4))Mo(CO)(2)](2)(&mgr;-X)(2) (X = Cl (3a), Br (3b), I (3c)) and the corresponding tungsten dimers 4a-c, all of which are red or orange air-stable crystalline solids.

nido↔closo Interconversion of Six-Vertex Metallacarboranes: Access to CoC B and CoC B Clusters with Nonadjacent Carbon Atoms.

Replacement of B-H hydrogen atoms with Cl or Br facilitates the previously unknown oxidative conversion of a nido- to a closo-6-vertex metallacarborane [Eq. (1); X=Cl, Br]. Oxidative cage closure, separation of carbon atoms upon thermal rearrangement, reductive cage opening, and cage expansion by boron insertion have all been applied to a single system, to afford synthetic access to new cluster types.

Apically Linked Small Metallacarborane Clusters. Directed Synthesis and Structural Characterization of 7,7'-[CpCo(2,3-Et(2)C(2)B(4)H(3)](2) and [CpCo(2,3-Et(2)C(2)B(4)H(3)-7)](2)X Complexes (X = MeCH, HC=CH, C&tbd1;C)(,)(1).

A series of novel bis(cobaltacarboranyl) (CoC(2)B(4))(2)X dicluster complexes whose B(7) (apex) atoms are linked by organic moieties involving sp-, sp(2)-, or sp(3)-hybridized carbon, or by a direct B(7)-B(7') bond, has been prepared by extension of the recently described "recapitation" method (Curtis, M. A.; et al.

Organotransition-Metal Metallacarboranes. 46. Multidecker Sandwiches of the Cobalt Group Metals(,)(1).

The double-decker sandwich complex CpIr(2,3-Et(2)C(2)B(4)H(4)) (1a) was prepared via deprotonation of nido-2,3-Et(2)C(2)B(4)H(6) to its mono- or dianion and reaction with (CpIrCl(2))(2) in THF and isolated as a colorless air-stable solid; the B(4)-chloro derivative 1b was also obtained. Decapitation of 1a and 1b with TMEDA afforded colorless nido-CpIr(2,3-Et(2)C(2)B(3)H(5)) (2a) and its 4-chloro derivative 2b. Chlorination of 1a by Cl(2) or N-chlorosuccinimide gave the symmetrical species CpIr(2,3-Et(2)C(2)B(4)H(3)-5-Cl) (1c), which was decapped to yield nido-CpIr(2,3-Et(2)C(2)B(3)H(4)-5-Cl) (2c).

"Recapitation" of nido-Metallacarboranes as a Synthetic Tool: Preparation of Apically Substituted CoC(2)B(4) Clusters via Boron Insertion(1).

Derivatives of CpCo(2,3-Et(2)C(2)B(4)H(4)) containing substituents at the apex boron atom [B(7)], the first examples of apically functionalized small metallacarborane clusters, have been prepared in good yield via boron insertion into the nido-CpCo(2,3-Et(2)C(2)B(3)H(3))(2-) dianion. Reaction of this substrate with BX(3) (X = Cl, Br, I) or PhBCl(2) in toluene at room temperature gave the corresponding CpCo(2,3-Et(2)C(2)B(4)H(3)-7-X) derivatives (2a-c and 3 in which X = Cl, Br, I, and Ph, respectively), all of which were isolated via column chromatography as air-stable yellow solids and characterized via (1)H, (11)B, and (13)C NMR, infrared, UV-visible, and mass spectra. Treatment of the same dianion with 1,4-(Br(2)B)(2)C(6)H(4) afforded air-stable orange crystalline [CpCo(2,3-Et(2)C(2)B(4)H(3)-7)](2)C(6)H(4) (4).