Transition metal complexes based on carboranyl ligands containing N, P, and S donors: Synthesis, reactivity and applications

The chemistry of transition metal complexes containing bulky and stable o-carborane unit has developed greatly in the past few decades. The recent discovery in this field of many novel complexes, interesting reactivity patterns and new bonding modes has made this field of chemistry very attractive, diverse and unique. Functionalization and modification of the ligands plays an important role in the synthesis and properties of these metal complexes. This review describes a series of carboranyl ligands containing N, P, and S donors. Some of the ligands provide opportunities to synthesize novel transition metal complexes and to study their applications in olefin polymerization and in other fields. Both results and perspectives are discussed in the article. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.