Robert D. Kennedy

A coordination chemistry dichotomy for icosahedral carborane-based ligands

Although the majority of ligands in modern chemistry take advantage of carbon-based substituent effects to tune the sterics and electronics of coordinating moieties, we describe here how icosahedral carboranes-boron-rich clusters-can influence metal-ligand interactions. Using a series of phosphine-thioether chelating ligands featuring meta- or ortho-carboranes grafted on the sulfur atom, we were able to tune the lability of the platinum-sulfur interaction of platinum(II)-thioether complexes. Experimental observations, supported by computational work, show that icosahedral carboranes can act either as strong electron-withdrawing ligands or electron-donating moieties (similar to aryl- or alkyl-based groups, respectively), depending on which atom of the carborane cage is attached to the thioether moiety. These and similar results with carborane-selenol derivatives suggest that, in contrast to carbon-based ligands, icosahedral carboranes exhibit a significant dichotomy in their coordination chemistry, and can be used as a versatile class of electronically tunable building blocks for various ligand platforms.

General strategy for the synthesis of rigid weak-link approach platinum(II) complexes: tweezers, triple-layer complexes, and macrocycles.

Air-stable, heteroligated platinum(II) weak-link approach (WLA) tweezer and triple-layer complexes that possess P,X-Aryl hemilabile ligands (P^ = Ph2PCH2CH2-, X = chalcoethers or amines) have been synthesized via the halide-induced ligand rearrangement (HILR) reaction, using a one-pot, partial chloride-abstraction method. The approach is general and works with a variety of phosphine-based hemilabile ligands; when a P,S-Ph ligand is used as the relatively strongly chelating ligand, heteroligated complexes are formed cleanly when an ether- (P,O-Ph), amine- (P,N-Ph2), or fluorinated thioether-based (P,S-C6F4H) hemilabile ligand is used as the weakly chelating counterpart. The HILR reaction has also been used to synthesize bisplatinum(II) macrocycles free of oligomeric material without having to resort to the high-dilution conditions typical for macrocycle synthesis. This approach is complementary to the traditional WLA to the synthesis of macrocyclic complexes which typically proceeds via fully closed, chloride-free intermediates. The structures of the complexes may be toggled between semiopen (with only one chelating ligand) and fully closed (with both ligands chelating) via the abstraction and addition of chloride.

Stabilization of a highly porous metal–organic framework utilizing a carborane-based linker

The first tritopic carborane-based linker, H3BCA (C15B24O6H30), based on closo-1,10-C2B8H10, has been synthesized and incorporated into a metal-organic framework (MOF), NU-700 (Cu3(BCA)2). In contrast to the analogous MOF-143, NU-700 can be activated with retention of porosity, yielding a BET surface area of 1870 m(2) g(-1).

Zwitterionic Weak-Link Approach Complexes Based on Anionic Icosahedral Monocarbaboranes

The anionic hemilabile phosphinothioether ligand, [1-(Ph2PCH2CH2S)-closo-1-CB11H11 ](-), which is functionalized with an anionic icosahedral monocarbaborane anion, was synthesized in three steps from [HNMe3][closo-CB11H12]. The ligand was used to synthesize a family of zwitterionic Weak-Link Approach (WLA) complexes that contain platinum(II), palladium(II), and rhodium(I). These complexes were characterized using multinuclear NMR spectroscopy, high-resolution mass spectrometry, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction analyses. Although the C-bound [closo-CB11H11](-) anion behaves as an electron-withdrawing moiety, hemilabile phosphinothioether ligands that are based on this unit are strongly chelating, as determined via the measurement of the chloride association constant. The chelating strength is comparable to that of hemilabile ligands that are functionalized with the very electron-rich B-bound closo-1,7-C2B10H11 moiety, thus demonstrating the use of charge to influence ligand coordination strength. The anionic Rh(I) WLA complex that is synthesized using this ligand can act as the noncoordinating anion of a regular cationic Rh(I) WLA complex. Thus, an unprecedented type of salt, in which the anion and cation are mutually isostructural and isoelectronic WLA complexes, has been synthesized and characterized crystallographically.

An exceptionally high boron content supramolecular cuboctahedron

A boron-rich supramolecular cuboctahedron containing an impressive 240 boron atoms has been synthesized via coordination-driven assembly. The cuboctahedron, which is composed of Cu(2+) paddle-wheel nodes and carborane-isophthalic acids, was obtained simply and in high purity. The ability to precisely characterize the nanostructure via X-ray diffraction makes it unique among boron-rich nanostructures.