Recent advances on carborane-based ligands in low-valent group 13 and group 14 elements chemistry

Carboranes are a class of polyhedral boron-carbon molecular clusters, they can serve as versatile ligands in stabilizing low-valent main group element compounds, due to their exceptionally thermal and chemical stabilities, easy modifications at the cage carbon vertices, as well as large spherical steric effects. These carborane-based ligands provide interesting opportunities for the synthesis of low-valent main group element compounds with novel structure and reactivity, which indeed enrich the chemistry of low-valent element main group compounds. This review summarizes the recent advances in the chemistry of low-valent group 13 and group 14 element compounds supported by carborane-based ligands. Achievements and perspectives in this new and flourishing field are discussed in this review.