NJC themed issue “Boron & Beyond - Celebrating Todd B. Marder’s Contributions to Chemistry” Light-Promoted Copper-Catalyzed Cage C-Arylation of o-Carboranes: Facile Synthesis of 1-Aryl-o-Carborane and o-Carborane-Fused Cyclics

Light-promoted copper catalyzed cage C-H arylation of o-carboranes with aryl halides has been achieved, leading to the facile synthesis of a variety of 1-aryl-o-carboranes and o-carborane-fused cyclics. This method has the following features: 1) using o-carboranes instead of prefunctionized iodocarboranes as starting materials; 2) employing earth abundant copper as catalyst; and 3) room-temperature reaction. Control experiments suggest that the reaction proceeds via Cu-catalyzed radical coupling.