8-Dioxane ferra(III) bis(dicarbollide): A paramagnetic functional molecule as versatile building block for introduction of a Fe(III) centre into organic molecules

The synthesis of a new, paramagnetic closo-[(8-(-CH2CH2O)2-1,2-C2B9H10)(1′,2′-C2B9H11)-3,3′-Fe]0 (3) is reported. This compound can serve as a versatile building block for construction of both anionic and zwitterionic derivatives, as exemplified by the synthesis of a series of compounds of general formula closo-[(8-X-(CH2CH2O)2-1,2-C2B9H10)(1′,2′-C2B9H11)-3,3′-Fe], bearing organic end groups (X = NC5H5 (4), (C6H5)3P (5), OH (6), and 2-O(1-CH3O–C6H4) (7)) attached to the cluster by a diethyleneglycol spacer. Molecular structures of 3, 4, 5 and 7 were determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis and by the long-time neglected method of paramagnetic, high field NMR (1H, 13C and 11B) spectroscopy.