The medicinal chemistry of carboranes

The medicinal chemistry of dicarba-closo-dodecaboranes (otherwise referred to as carboranes) has traditionally centered on their use in boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT). More recently, work has begun to exploit the unique chemical and physical properties of carboranes for the preparation of novel inorganic pharmaceuticals and biological probes. This review is designed to highlight some of the recent work concerning medicinal carborane chemistry including the synthesis and testing of new BNCT agents. Following this review, as an appendix, is an illustrated summary of reactions involving carboranes reported in literature since 1992. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.