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Although Lipscomb predicted in 1977 that supra-icosahedral boron clusters would be viable, their synthesis has been impeded by the unavailability of appropriate synthetic methodologies. Herein, we report the first examples of the open 16-vertex oblato–hypho-titanaborane clusters [(Cp*Ti)2B14H17R] (1: R = H; 2: R = Me) having a non-Wadean 19-skeletal-electron-pair count. Interestingly, these clusters show a six-membered [Ti2B4] open face, which could lead to closo-19-vertex clusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Azametallacyclopropane‐containing base stabilized borane complexes of group 5 transition metals have been synthesized and their structural aspects have been described. Treatment of Cp* based Ta and Nb chlorides, Cp*TaCl4 and Cp*NbCl4 with [LiBH4 ⋅ THF] followed by addition of ligands, such as 2‐mercaptobenzothiazole, MBT, (C7H5NS2) and 2‐mercaptobenzoxazole, MBO (C7H5NSO) led to the formation of complexes [Cp*M‐[BHS(CH2ENC6H4)(C7H4NSE)] (1: M=Ta, E=S; 2; M=Nb, E=S; 3: M=Ta, E=O; 4; M=Nb, E=O, Cp*=pentamethyl‐η5‐cyclopentadienyl). By means of UV‐vis absorption spectra, the electronic properties of these complexes associated with central metal atoms and heteroatoms (S or O) have been evaluated. In contrast, treatment of Cp*TaCl4 with 2‐mercaptopyridine, MP, (C5H5NS) under the same reaction conditions yielded the agostic σ‐borane Ta complex, [Cp*Ta(H3BNC5H4) (C5H4NS)(η2‐S2)], 5. Unlike 1–4, where the metals interact with boron through bridging sulphur, 5 shows a notable σ‐B−H bond interaction with Ta. All spectroscopic data of 1–5 along with the X‐ray diffraction studies suggest complexes 2, 4, and 5 are base (amine) stabilized borane species. Computational studies based on Density Functional Theory (DFT) also supported this conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building upon our earlier results on the chemistry of nido‐1,2‐[(Cp*RuH)2B3H7] (Cp*=ɳ5‐C5Me5) (nido‐1) with different transition metal carbonyls, we continued to investigate the reactivity with group 7 metal carbonyls under photolytic condition. Photolysis of nido‐1 with [Mn2(CO)10] led to the isolation of a trimetallic [(Cp*Ru)2{Mn(CO)3}(μ‐H)(μ‐CO)3(μ3‐BH)] (2) cluster with a triply bridging borylene moiety. Cluster 2 is a rare example of a tetrahedral cluster having hydrido(hydroborylene) moiety. In an attempt to synthesize the Re analogue of 2, a similar reaction was carried out with [Re2(CO)10] that yielded the trimetallic [(Cp*Ru)2{Re(CO)3}(μ‐H)(μ‐CO)3(μ3‐BH)] (3) cluster having a triply bridging borylene unit. Along with 3, a trimetallic square pyramid cluster [(Cp*Ru)2{Re(CO)3}(μ‐H)2(μ‐CO)(μ3,ɳ2‐B2H5)] (4), and heterotrimetallic hydride clusters [{Cp*Ru(CO)2}‐{Re(CO)4}2(μ‐H)] (5) and [{Cp*Ru(CO)}{Re(CO)4}2(μ‐H)3] (6) were isolated. Cluster 4 is a unique example of a M2M′B2 cluster having diboron capped Ru2Re‐triangle. The hydride clusters 5 and 6 have triangular RuRe2 frameworks with one and three μ‐Hs respectively. All the clusters have been characterized by using mass spectrometry, 1H, 11B{1H}, 13C{1H} NMR and IR spectroscopies analyses and the structures of clusters 2–6 have been unambiguously established by XRD analyses. Furthermore, to understand the electronic, structural, and bonding features of the synthesized metal‐rich clusters, DFT calculations have been performed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structure and bonding of two novel tungstaboranes which were synthesized using diverse synthetic methods are described. (i) The room-temperature photolysis of [Cp*W(CO)3Me] with [BH3·SMe2] led to the isolation of the hydrogen-rich tungstaborane [Cp*W(CO)2B3H8] (1). Its geometry consists of an arachno butterfly core similar to tetraborane(10) and obeys the Wade-Mingos electron counting rules (n vertices, n + 3 skeletal electron pairs (seps)). (ii) Further, the tungstaborane [(Cp*W)3(μ-H)2(μ3-H)(μ-CO)2B4H4] (4) was isolated by thermolysis reaction of a tungsten intermediate, obtained by low temperature reaction of [Cp*WCl4] and [LiBH4·THF] with [Cr(CO)5·THF]. Compound 4 which seems to have formed by replacement of a BH unit in [(Cp*W)2B5H9] by the isoelectronic fragment {Cp*W(CO)2}, adopts an oblato-nido hexagonal-bipyramidal core (n vertices, n–1 seps). Both compounds were characterized using multinuclear NMR, IR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry as well as single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. In addition, density functional theory (DFT) calculations were performed in order to elucidate their bonding and electronic structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The trans‐mer‐[(κ2‐N,S‐NS2C7H4)PR3Ru{κ3‐H,S,S′‐H2B (NS2C7H4)2}], (trans‐mer‐1 a: R=Cy; trans‐mer‐1 b: R=Ph) complexes are kinetically controlled products that upon thermolysis led to the formation of cis‐mer‐[(κ2‐N,S‐NS2C7H4)PR3Ru{κ3‐H,S,S′‐H2B(NS2C7H4)2}], (cis‐mer‐2 a: R=Cy; cis‐mer‐2 b: R=Ph) and cis‐fac‐[(κ2‐N,S‐NS2C7H4)PR3Ru{κ3‐H,S,S′‐H2B(NS2C7H4)2}], (cis‐fac‐3 a: R=Cy; cis‐fac‐3 b: R=Ph) along with complex cis‐[(κ2‐N,S‐NS2C7H4)2Ru(PPh3)2], (cis‐4). One of the main intentions of this study was to examine the flexibility of the borate and hemilabile N,S‐chelating mercapto‐benzothiazole ligands in adapting different spatial arrangements around metal center. Multinuclear spectroscopic analyses have been done to characterize all new complexes and the structures were further confirmed by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction analysis. Further, Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations were performed to provide an insight into the bonding of the complexes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]