title: Reaction of a 14-vertex carborane with nucleophiles: formation of nido-C(2)B(12), nido-C(2)B(11,) and closo-CB(11) carborane anions.
abstract: Nucleophilic reactions of a 14-vertex closo-carborane are reported. 2,3-(CH(2))(3)-2,3-C(2)B(12)H(12) (1) reacts with MeOH at 70 degrees C to give closo-CB(11) anions [1,2-(CH(2))(3)CH(OMe)-1-CB(11)H(10)](-) ([2a](-)), [1,2-(CH(2))(2)CH(OMe)CH(2)-1-CB(11)H(10)](-) ([2b](-)), and [1,2-(CH(2))(2)CH horizontal lineCH-1-CB(11)H(10)](-) ([2c](-)). It is suggested that [2c](-) is an intermediate for the isomerization from [2a](-) to [2b](-). Treatment of 1 with MeOH/Me(3)N, (t)BuOK or LiNMe(2) affords nido-C(2)B(12) species [8,9-(CH(2))(3)-mu-11,12-(Nu)BH-8,9-C(2)B(11)H(11)](-) (Nu = MeO ([3a](-)), (t)BuO ([3b](-)), and Me(2)N ([3c](-))). In the presence of acid such as HCl, anions [3](-) are converted to 1. However, [3](-) undergo deboration reaction, in the presence of bases, to generate a nido-C(2)B(11) anion [8,9-(CH(2))(3)-8,9-C(2)B(11)H(12)](-) ([4](-)) that can also be formed directly from the reaction of 1 with excess CsF or piperidine. Mechanistic studies show that [3a](-) is the first intermediate in the reaction of 1 with MeOH and [4](-) is unlikely an intermediate.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Fangrui
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Hoi-Shan
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: Zuowei
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xie