Zwitterionic half-sandwich Rh and Ir complexes containing a diphosphine nido-carborane ligand: synthesis, structure transformation and application in H2 activation.

Several novel zwitterionic half-sandwich complexes and pseudocloso metallacarboranes based on 1,2-(PPh(2))(2)-1,2-C(2)B(10)H(10) were successfully prepared, and further study proved that some of them can activate H(2) to form the metal hydride complexes Cp*M(H)(7,8-(PPh(2))(2)-7,8-C(2)B(9)H(10)) (M = Rh, Ir).