Palladium/nickel-cocatalyzed cycloaddition of 1,3-dehydro-o-carborane with alkynes. Facile synthesis of C,B-substituted carboranes

o-Carboryne (1,2-dehydro-o-carborane) has been reported as a very reactive intermediate and regarded as a three-dimensional relative of benzyne, whereas the 1,3-dehydro-o-carborane has remained elusive. In this article, we present the preparation of 1,3-dehydro-o-carborane from 3-iodo-1-lithio-o-carborane mediated by palladium(0). This reactive intermediate can be trapped by alkynes via Pd/Ni-cocatalyzed 2 + 2 + 2] cycloaddition reaction, leading to the formation of C,B-substituted-o-carborane derivatives. The possible reaction mechanism involving the formation of metal-1,3-dehydro-o-carborane followed by stepwise insertions of 2 equiv of alkyne and reductive elimination is proposed, and the relative reactivity of M-C versus M-B bond in metal-1,3-dehydro-o-carborane complexes is also discussed. This work offers a new methodology for B-functionalization of carboranes and demonstrates that metal-1,3-dehydro-o-carborane can be viewed as a new kind of boron nucleophile.