Carboryne (1,2-dehydro-ortho-carborane), a three-dimensional relative of benzyne, was first reported in 1990 as a highly reactive intermediate. [1] Subsequent studies of its reactivity showed that it can react with alkenes, dienes, and alkynes in [2+2] and [2+4] cycloaddition, and ene-reaction patterns, [2] similar to that of benzyne. The carboryne reactions are usually complicated and do not proceed in a controlled manner. On the other hand, nickel-carboryne complex [(h 2 -C 2 B 10 H 10 )Ni(PPh 3 ) 2 ][3] can undergo regioselective [2+2+2] cycloaddition reactions with 2 equivalents of alkyne to afford benzocarboranes, [4] can react with 1 equivalent of alkenes to generate alkenylcarborane coupling products, [5] and can undergo a three-component [2+2+2] cyclotrimerization reaction with 1 equivalent of activated alkene and 1 equivalent of alkyne to give dihydrobenzocarboranes.[6] However, these reactions require a stoichiometric amount of nickel reagent. In view of the analogy between metal-benzyne and metalcarboryne complexes [7, 8] and the metal-catalyzed reactions of benzyne with alkenes and alkynes, [9] we wondered if a catalytic version of these nickel-mediated carboryne reactions could be developed.We learnt from the previous stoichiometric reactions that high temperatures were necessary for the insertion of alkynes into the NiÀC cage bonds in nickel-carborynes, and that the final metal complex was a Ni 0 species. [4][5][6] Also, 1-bromo-2-lithiocarborane is a known precursor of carboryne. [2a-e] Therefore, it is rational to assume that 1-bromo-2-lithiocarborane can undergo oxidative addition with Ni 0 to give the desired nickel-carboryne complex after elimination of LiBr. Unfortunately, such an oxidative addition reaction does not proceed at temperatures less than 0 8C and 1-bromo-2-lithiocarborane is not stable at temperatures greater than 0 8C. [1, 2a] Therefore, a new precursor to carboryne is required. After many attempts, we discovered that 1-iodo-2-lithiocarborane is a good precursor for this catalytic cycle. Herein, we report the nickel-catalyzed [2+2+2] cycloaddition of carboryne with 2 equivalents of an alkyne to afford benzocarborane compounds.1-Iodo-2-lithiocarborane was conveniently prepared in situ from the reaction of dilithiocarborane with 1 equivalent of iodine in toluene at room temperature; importantly, 1-iodo-2-lithiocarborane was much more thermally stable than 1-bromo-2-lithiocarborane. Heating a solution of 1-iodo-2-lithiocarborane in benzene overnight afforded the [4+2] cycloaddition product 1,2-(2,5-cyclohexadiene-1,4-diyl)-ortho-carborane in 25 % yield, much higher than the 8 % yield that is afforded from the 1-bromo-2-lithiocarborane precursor.[10] This result suggests that 1-iodo-2-lithiocarborane is a more efficient precursor than the bromo one. We then examined the catalytic activity of various metal complexes in the reaction of 1-iodo-2-lithiocarborane with an excess amount of 3-hexyne in toluene at 110 8C for 2 hours and the results are summarized in Table 1. The Ni 0 ...