Pure Appl. Chem., 2003, Vol. 75, No. 9, pp. 1305-1313
doi:10.1351/pac200375091305
Boron clusters: Do they receive the deserved interest?*
Francesc Teixidor, Clara Viñas, Albert Demonceau, and Rosario Nuñez
Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (CSIC), Campus U.A.B., E-08193 Bellaterra, Spain
Abstract:
New applications in which the carborane and metallacarborane species play a crucial role have been recently developed. In these applications, clusters display many particular characteristics that do not find parallel in their organic counterparts. The o-carborane can modulate the C···C distances depending on the substituents bonded to the cluster carbon atom and can lead to the formation of uncommon halogenophosphane charge-transfer “spoke ” complexes with iodine due to their electron-withdrawing capacity. Besides, metallacarboranes have been used as doping agents in organic conducting polymers and as catalysts in Kharasch reactions.
*Lecture presented at the XIth International Meeting on Boron Chemistry (IMEBORON XI), Moscow, Russia, 28 July - 2 August 2002. Other presentations are published in this issue, pp. 1157-1355.