A number of tetracarbon carboranes of the general form (SiMe3)2(R)2C4B8H8 (R = SiMe3
(III and IV) Me (XIII and XIV), n-Bu (VII, XI, and XII), t-Bu (VIII)) were synthesized by
the reactions of the corresponding mono- or dianions of nido-2-(SiMe3)-3-(R)-2,3-C2B4H6 with
NiCl2 in n-hexane. The nido-carboranes where R = n-Bu (I), t-Bu (II) are newly reported
and were obtained from the reaction of Me3SiC⋮CR with B5H9. The tetracarbon compounds
were minor products of the reactions, with yields ranging from 13% for VIII to 37% for XI;
the major products were the corresponding closo-1-(SiMe3)-2-(R)-1,2-C2B4H4 compounds,
which were obtained in yields from 69% (R = t-Bu (VI)) to 32% (R = SiMe3). The closo-carboranes where R = n-Bu (V), t-Bu (VI) could be converted to the more stable closo-1-(SiMe3)-6-(R)-1,6-C2B4H4 (R = n-Bu (IX), t-Bu(X)) by heating to 250−255 °C for 4−5 h; this
agrees with previous studies on the compounds where R = SiMe3, Me. To aid in cage
structure determination, a monobrominated, tetracarbon carborane, XV, was prepared from
the reaction of VII with Br2 in n-hexane, in 46% yield. All compounds were characterized
by their 1H, 11B, and 13C NMR spectra and elemental analyses and by the following: I−XIV
by their IR spectra; III, IV, VII−X, XIII, and XIV by mass spectrometry; and III, IV, XI,
XII, and XV by single-crystal X-ray crystallography. Depending on the structures of the
C4B8 cages, the compounds could be classified as having “carbons apart” structures, in which
all cage carbons were separated by at least one boron atom (III, IV, VII, VIII, XIV, and
XV), or “carbons adjacent” structures, in which the carbons were localized on the same side
of the clusters (XI−XIII). Compound III is unique in that its structure is that of a distorted
cuboctahedron, while IV and XV are nido-carboranes having a C3B3 face that surmounts a
B5 ring and an apical cage carbon atom; none of the rings are planar, and the apical carbon
is unequally bonded to the B5 ring atoms. Similarities in their NMR spectra indicate that
VII and VIII have structures similar to IV and XV. Two types of “carbons adjacent” cages
were identified: one typified by XI, in which the four cage carbons are bonded contiguously,
and a more open cage, in which the bond between the middle two carbons is broken (XII).
All of the C4B8 compounds were found to have nonrigid stereochemistries; both the 11B and
13C NMR spectra of the “carbons apart” compounds consisted of single resonance peaks,
indicating rapid atom equilibration on the NMR time scale. The “carbons adjacent”
compounds showed 11B NMR spectra of six resonance peaks; each had a different chemical
shift and peak-area ratio pattern. The 11B NMR spectra of the “carbons apart” isomers could
be successfully accounted for by using GIAO ab initio molecular orbital chemical shift
calculations at the B3LYP/6-311G** level of theory on the B3LYP/6-31G* optimized
geometries of a set of model compounds, III‘, IV‘, and XV‘, which had H's as substituents
on the cage carbons. However, neither similar calculat...