- Dziedzic, Rafal M;
- Martin, Joshua L;
- Axtell, Jonathan C;
- Saleh, Liban MA;
- Ong, Ta-Chung;
- Yang, Yun-Fang;
- Messina, Marco S;
- Rheingold, Arnold L;
- Houk, KN;
- Spokoyny, Alexander M
We report the first observed Pd-catalyzed isomerization ("cage-walking") of B(9)-bromo-meta-carborane during Pd-catalyzed cross-coupling, which enables the formation of B-O and B-N bonds at all boron vertices (B(2), B(4), B(5), and B(9)) of meta-carborane. Experimental and theoretical studies suggest this isomerization mechanism is strongly influenced by the steric crowding at the Pd catalyst by either a biaryl phosphine ligand and/or substrate. Ultimately, this "cage-walking" process provides a unique pathway to preferentially introduce functional groups at the B(2) vertex using B(9)-bromo-meta-carborane as the sole starting material through substrate control.