Germa-closo-dodecaborate: A New Ligand in Transition-Metal Chemistry with a Strong trans Influence

The strong nucleophilic character of germa-closo-dodecaborate towards late transition metal centres is described. The synthesis and characterisation of the first germ a-closo-dodecaborate complexes are presented, and the solid state structures of the germaborate transition metal complexes were determined by X-ray crystal structure analyses. The strong trans influence of the new germaborate ligand was determined by IR spectroscopy and NMR coupling constants.