Thermal isomerizations of monothiolated carboranes (HS)C2B10H11 and the solid-state investigation of 9-(HS)-1,2-C2B10H11 and 9-(HS)-1,7-C2B10H11

At 300-500 degrees C, three C-thiolated closo-dicarbadodecaborane isomers 1-(HS)-1,2-C2R10H11 (1-o), 1-(HS)-1,7-C2R10H11 (1-m), and 1-(HS)-1,12-C2B10H11 (1-p), and two B-thiolated isomers 9-(HS)-1,7-C2B10H11 (9-m) and 9-(HS)-1,2-C2B10H11 (9-o) show two types of reaction: first, removal of an SH group from the closo-dicarbadodecaborane skeleton, and second, skeletal isomerizations from ortho to meta to para that lead to new isomers. A previously unreported SH skip from carbon-to-boron is also observed. The effect of the thiol group on the skeletal rearrangement is discussed. The isomerisation products are assigned on the basis of correlation of their computationally obtained dipole moments with their gas-chromatographic retention times. Computational results on molecular energies for the mono-thiolated species show good agreement between the calculated relative stabilities and the incidence and relative quantities of the isomerization products. Two of the starting B-thiolated isomers, 9-o and 9-m, were characterized using single-crystal X-ray diffraction analyses and their crystallographic packings as well as some selected structural parameters are discussed. All starting compounds were characterized using multinuclear NMR spectroscopy. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.