Functionalized o-carboranes are interesting ligands for transition metals. Reaction of LiC2B10H11 with Me2NCH2CH2Cl in toluene afforded 1-Me2NCH2CH2-1,2-C2B10H11
(1). Treatment of 1 with 1 equiv. of n-BuLi gave [(Me2NCH2CH2)C2B10H10]Li ([1]Li), which was a very useful synthon for the production of bisfunctional o-carboranes. Reaction of [1]Li with RCH2CH2Cl afforded 1-Me2NCH2CH2-2-RCH2CH2-1,2-C2B10H10
(R = Me2N (2), MeO (3)). 1 and 2 were also prepared from the reaction of Li2C2B10H10 with excess Me2NCH2CH2Cl. Treatment of [1]Li with excess MeI or allyl bromide gave the ionic salts, [1-Me3NCH2CH2-2-Me-1,2-C2B10H10][I]
(4) and [1-Me2N(CH2
CHCH2)CH2CH2-2-(CH2
CHCH2)-1,2-C2B10H10][Br]
(6), respectively. Interaction of [1]Li with 1 equiv. of allyl bromide afforded 1-Me2NCH2CH2-2-(CH2
CHCH2)-1,2-C2B10H10
(5). Treatment of [1]Li with excess dimethylfulvene afforded 1-Me2NCH2CH2-2-C5H5CMe2-1,2-C2B10H10
(7). Interaction of [1]Li with excess ethylene oxide afforded an unexpected product 1-HOCH2CH2-2-(CH2
CH)-1,2-C2B10H10
(8). 1 and 3 were conveniently converted into the corresponding deborated compounds, 7-Me2NHCH2CH2-7,8-C2B9H11
(9) and 7-Me2NHCH2CH2-8-MeOCH2CH2-7,8-C2B9H10
(10), respectively, in MeOH–MeOK solution. All of these compounds were characterized by various spectroscopic techniques and elemental analyses. The solid-state structures of 4 and 6–10 were confirmed by single-crystal X-ray analyses.