Reactivity of Dirhodium Analogues of Octaborane-12 and Decaborane-14 towards Transition-Metal Moieties

Chemistry of CS2 and CS3 Bridged Decaborane Analogues: Regular Coordination Versus Cluster Expansion

In an effort to synthesize metallaheteroborane clusters of higher nuclearity, the reactivity of metallaheteroboranes, nido-[(Cp*M)2B6S2H4(CS3)] (Cp* = C5Me5) (1: M = Co; 2: M = Rh) with various metal carbonyls have been investigated. Photolysis of nido-1 and nido-2 with group 6 metal carbonyls, M'(CO)5.THF (M' = Mo or W) were performed that led to the formation of a series of adducts [(Cp*M)2B6S2H4(CS3){M'(CO)5}] (3: M = Co, M' = Mo; 4: M = Co, M' = W; 5: M = Rh, M' = Mo; 6: M = Rh, M' = W) instead of cluster expansion reactions. In these adducts, the S atom of C=S group of di(thioboralane)thione {B2CS3} moiety is coordinated to M'(CO)5 (M = Mo or W) in η1-fashion. On the other hand, thermolysis of nido-1 with Ru3(CO)12 yielded one fused metallaheteroborane cluster [{Ru(CO)3}3S{Ru(CO)}{Ru(CO)2}Co2B6SH4(CH2S2){Ru(CO)3}2S], 7. This 20-vertex-fused cluster is composed of two tetrahedral {Ru3S} and {Ru2B2}, a flat butterfly {Ru3S} and one octadecahedron {Co2RuB7S} core with one missing vertex, coordinated to {Ru2SCH2S2} through two boron and one ruthenium atom. On the other hand, the room temperature reaction of nido-2 with Co2(CO)8 produced one 19-vertex fused metallaheteroborane cluster [(Cp*Rh)2B6H4S4{Co(CO)}2{Co(CO)2}2(μ-CO)S{Co(CO)3}2], 8. Cluster 8 contains one nido-decaborane {Rh2B6S2}, one butterfly {Co2S2} and one bicapped square pyramidal {Co6S} unit that exhibits an intercluster fusion with two sulfur atoms in common. Clusters 3-6 have been characterized by multinuclear NMR and IR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and structurally determined by XRD analyses. Furthermore, the DFT calculations have been carried out to gain insight into electronic, structural and bonding patterns of the synthesized clusters.

Metal-Rich Metallaboranes: Synthesis, Structures and Bonding of Bi- and Trimetallic Open-Faced Cobaltaboranes

Synthesis, isolation, and structural characterization of unique metal rich diamagnetic cobaltaborane clusters are reported. They were obtained from reactions of monoborane as well as modified borohydride reagents with cobalt sources. For example, the reaction of [Cp*CoCl]2 with [LiBH4·THF] and subsequent photolysis with excess [BH3·THF] (THF = tetrahydrofuran) at room temperature afforded the 11-vertex tricobaltaborane nido-[(Cp*Co)3B8H10] (1, Cp* = η5-C5Me5). The reaction of Li[BH2S3] with the dicobaltaoctaborane(12) [(Cp*Co)2B6H10] yielded the 10-vertex nido-2,4-[(Cp*Co)2B8H12] cluster (2), extending the library of dicobaltadecaborane(14) analogues. Although cluster 1 adopts a classical 11-vertex-nido-geometry with one cobalt center and four boron atoms forming the open pentagonal face, it disobeys the Polyhedral Skeletal Electron Pair Theory (PSEPT). Compound 2 adopts a perfectly symmetrical 10-vertex-nido framework with a plane of symmetry bisecting the basal boron plane resulting in two {CoB3} units bridged at the base by two boron atoms and possesses the expected electron count. Both compounds were characterized in solution by multinuclear NMR and IR spectroscopies and by mass spectrometry. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction analyses confirmed the structures of the compounds. Additionally, density functional theory (DFT) calculations were performed in order to study and interpret the nature of bonding and electronic structures of these complexes.

Postsynthetic modifications of [2,2,2-(H)(PPh3)2-closo-2,1-RhSB8H8] with Lewis bases: cluster modular tuning

It has been demonstrated that the reaction of [2,2,2-(H)(PPh3)2-closo-2,1-RhSB8H8] () with PPh3 affords the boron substituted rhodathiaborane-PPh3 adduct, [6,6-(PPh3)2-9-(PPh3)-arachno-6,5-RhSB8H9] (). Building upon this reaction, we report herein that the 10-vertex hydridorhodathiaborane reacts with the Lewis bases, PCy3, py, 2-Mepy, 2-Etpy, 3-Mepy and 4-Mepy to form the rhodathiaborane-ligand adducts, [6,6-(PPh3)2-9-(L)-arachno-6,5-RhSB8H9], where L = PCy3 (), 2-Mepy (), 2-Etpy (), py (), 3-Mepy () or 4-Mepy (), and [8,9-μ-(H)-9-(PPh3)2-8-(L)-arachno-9,6-RhSB8H8], where L = py (), 3-Mepy () or 4-Mepy (). The selectivity of the reactions depended on the nature of the entering Lewis bases, affording the 6,5-isomers, , , and as single products for PPh3, PCy3, 2-Mepy and 2-Etpy; and mixtures of the 6,5-/9,6-regioisomers, /, / and / for py, 3-Mepy and 4-Mepy, respectively. The molecular structures of both regioisomers were characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis for the 6,5-isomers, and , and for the 9,6-isomers, and . Variable temperature NMR studies of the reaction between and PPh3 or 2-Mepy demonstrated that at low temperatures there is formation of the 9,6-species that subsequently isomerizes to the 6,5-regioisomer, indicating that for the more sterically hindered Lewis bases, PPh3, 2-Mepy and PCy3, the latter isomer is more stable and accessible through an intramolecular {Rh(PPh3)2} vertex flip. The formation of both isomers with py, 3-Mepy and 4-Mepy indicates that the kinetic and thermodynamic energies of the 6,5 and 9,6 rhodathiaborane-ligand adducts are similar for these Lewis bases. Lewis base bonding to exo-polyhedral boron vertices results in a change of the metal coordination from pseudo-octahedral Rh(iii) in to pseudo-square planar Rh(i) in the adducts. The chemistry described here highlights the remarkable structural flexibility of these polyhedral boron-containing compounds, their modular architecture and their easy postsynthetic modification.