Developing nitrosocarborane chemistry

Alan Jeffrey Welch, Samuel Powley, Louise Schaefer, Wing Man, David Ellis, Georgina Margaret Rosair

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Abstract

The new nitrosocarboranes [1-NO-2-R-1,2-closo-C2B10H10] [R = CH2Cl (1), CH3OCH2 (2) pMeC6H4 (3), SiMe3 (4) and SiMe2 tBu (5)] and [1-NO-7-Ph-1,7-closo-C2B10H10] (6) were synthesised by reaction of the appropriate lithiocarborane in diethyl ether with NOCl in petroleum ether followed by quenching the reaction with aqueous NaHCO3. These brightblue compounds were characterised spectroscopically and, in several cases, crystallographically including structural determinations of 2 and 6 using crystals grown in situ on the diffractometer from liquid samples. In all cases the nitroso group bonds to the carborane as a 1e substituent (bent C–N–O sequence) and has little or no influence on <δ 11B>, the weighted average 11B chemical shift, relative to that in the parent (monosubstituted) carborane. Mono- and dinitroso derivatives of 1,1′-bis(m-carborane), compounds 7 and 8 respectively, were similarly synthesised but attempts to prepare the mononitroso 1,1′-bis(ocarborane) by the same protocol led only to the hydroxylamine species [1-(1′-1′,2′-closoC2B10H11)-2-N(H)OH-1,2-closo-C2B10H10] (9); the desired compound [1-(1′-1′,2′-closoC2B10H11)-2-NO-1,2-closo-C2B10H10] (10) was only realised by switching to a non-aqueous work-up. The involvement of water in effecting the net reduction of the NO function in 10 to N(H)OH in 9 was confirmed by a series of experiments involving [1-N(H)OH-2-Ph-1,2- closo-C2B10H10] (11), [1-(1′-2′-D-1′,2′-closo-C2B10H10)-2-D-1,2-closo-C2B10H10] (12) and [1- (1′-2′-D-1′,2′-closo-C2B10H10)-2-N(H)OH-1,2-closo-C2B10H10] (13). It is suggested that during aqueous work-up a water molecule, H-bonded to the acidic C2′H of 10, is “delivered” to the adjacent C2NO unit. The ability of the NO group in nitrosocarboranes to undergo Diels-Alder cycloaddition reactions with cyclic 1,3-diene was established via the syntheses of [1-(NOC10H14)-1,2-closo-C2B10H11] (14) and [1-(NOC6H8)-2-Ph-1,2-closo-C2B10H10] (15). This strategy was then utilised to prepare derivatives of the elusive dinitroso compounds of [1,2-closo-C2B10H12] and 1,1′-bis(o-carborane) leading to the sterically-crowded products [1,2-(NOC6H8)2-1,2-closo-C2B10H10] (16, prepared as meso and racemic diastereoisomers), [1-{1′-2′-(NOC6H8)-1′,2′-closo-C2B10H10}-2-(NOC6H8)-1,2-closo-C2B10H10] (17) and [1-(1′- 1′,2′-closo-C2B10H11)-2-(NOC6H8)-1,2-closo-C2B10H10] (18).
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3635-3647
Number of pages13
JournalDalton Transactions
Volume45
Issue number8
Early online date14 Jan 2016
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 28 Feb 2016

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