Reversible water activation driven by contraction and expansion of a 12-vertex-closo-12-vertex-nido biscarborane cluster

Yuen Onn Wong; Mark D Smith; Dmitry V Peryshkov

doi:10.1039/c6cc06955j

Reversible water activation driven by contraction and expansion of a 12-vertex-closo-12-vertex-nido biscarborane cluster

Chem Commun (Camb). 2016 Oct 20;52(86):12710-12713. doi: 10.1039/c6cc06955j.

Authors

Yuen Onn Wong¹, Mark D Smith¹, Dmitry V Peryshkov¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of South Carolina, 631 Sumter St., Columbia, SC 29208, USA. peryshkov@sc.edu.

PMID: 27722276
DOI: 10.1039/c6cc06955j

Abstract

The activation of O-H bonds of water at room temperature driven by the cage-opening rearrangement of a biscarborane-based cluster is reported. The reaction of the 12-vertex-closo-12-vertex-nido biscarborane cluster with water led to the quantitative and selective two-vertex decapitation of a carborane cluster and formation of the pendent boronic acid hydride B(H)(OH) group. Remarkably, this transformation can be quantitatively reversed with the release of water and re-formation of the starting biscarborane cage. The flexibility of cage decapitation/expansion and its influence on the reactivity of an exohedral substituent represent a new approach to cluster-induced organic transformations.