B–H bond activation half-sandwich Ir and Ru complexes containing carboranylamidinate selenolate ligands

Several B–H activation half-sandwich iridium and ruthenium complexes based on carboranylamidinate selenolate ligands were successfully prepared. Treatments of carboranylamidine CabNH (CabNH: RN = C(closo-1,2-C2B10H11)(NHR), R = iPr, Cy), n-butyllithium, selenium powder and [Cp′MCl2]2 (Cp′: Cp* or p-cymene; M: Ir or Ru) in dry THF, gave the corresponding products Cp′M[Se(RN = C(closo-1, 2-C2B10H9)(NHR)] 1–4, respectively. These B, N, Se-coordination mode complexes all adopted a three-legged piano-stool geometry and the metal centers showed a distorted octahedral environment. All complexes were fully characterized by elemental analysis and IR and NMR spectroscopy. The structures of 1, 2 and 4 were further confirmed by single-crystal X-ray analysis.