Synthesis, characterization and crystal structure analysis of cobaltaborane and cobaltaheteroborane clusters

Cluster expansion reactions of cobaltaboranes were carried out using mono metal-carbonyls, metal halides and dichalcogenide ligands. Thermolysis of an in situ generated intermediate, obtained from the reaction of [Cp*CoCl] 2 (Cp* = C5Me5) and [LiBH 4·thf], with three equivalents of [Mo(CO)3(CH 3CN)3] followed by the reaction with methyl iodide yielded isocloso-[(Cp*Co)3B6H7Co(CO) 2] (1) and closo-[(Cp*Co)2B2H 5Mo2(CO)6I] (2). Cluster 1 is ascribed to the isocloso structure based on a 10-vertex bicapped square antiprism geometry. In a similar manner, the reaction of [Cp*CoCl]2 with [LiBH 4·thf] and the dichalcogenide ligand RS-SR (R = 1-OH-2,6-(tBu)2-C6H2) yielded nido cluster [(Cp*Co)2B2H2S2] (3). In parallel with the formation of the compounds 1-3, these reactions also yielded known cobaltaboranes [(Cp*Co)2B4H 6] (4) and [(Cp*Co)3B4H4] in good yields. After the isolation of compound 4 in good yield, we verified its reactivity with PtBr2, which yielded closo-[(Cp*Co) 2B4H2Br4] (5). To the best of our knowledge this is the second perhalogenated metallaborane cluster which has been recognized. All the new compounds were characterized by elemental analysis, IR, 1H, 11B, and 13C NMR spectroscopy, and the geometric structures were unequivocally established by the X-ray diffraction analysis of compounds 1, 2, 3 and 5. Geometries obtained from the electronic structure calculations employing density functional theory (DFT) are in close agreement with the solid state X-ray structures. In addition, we analyzed the variation in the stability of the model compounds 1′ (1′: Cp analogue of 1, Cp = C5H5), [(CpCo)4B 6H6] (1a) and [(CpRh)4B6H 6] (1b). © 2014 The Royal Society of Chemistry.