Chemistry of boron clusters, carboranes synthesis, structure and application for molecular construction

The icosahedral boron cluster: dicarba-closo-dodecaboranes (carboranes) are chemical building blocks of high boron content, remarkable chemical stability, spherical geometry and hydrophobic molecular surface. These features of carboranes may allow wide variety of application for molecular construction, medicinal chemistry and materials sciences. However, little attention has been paid to the understanding their nature in view of synthetic organic chemistry. We have aimed to understand their electronic property, reactivity and to apply their spherical geometry for design and synthesis of biologically active molecules and three-dimensional structures. In this review, we describe development of synthetic methods on the carborane cage, evaluation of the characteristic electronic effects and steric effects of carborane, molecular construction based on spatial definition by carborane and evaluation and application of the hydrogen-bonding affinity of carboranes.