Controlled functionalization of<i>o</i>-carborane<i>via</i>transition metal catalyzed B–H activation

Carboranes, a class of carbon-boron molecular clusters, are often viewed as three-dimensional analogues of benzene. They are finding increasing applications as useful functional building blocks in materials science, medicine, organometallic/coordination chemistry and more. Thus, functionalization of carboranes has received considerable attention. In comparison with the weakly acidic cage C-H bonds that can be readily functionalized, selective cage B-H functionalization among ten chemically similar BH vertices in o-carboranes is very challenging. Only in the recent few years, considerable progress has been made in transition metal catalyzed vertex-specific BH functionalization. This review summarizes recent advances in this research area.