Half-sandwich late transition metal complexes based on functionalized carborane ligands

•Design and synthesis of a variety of functionalized carborane ligands.•Synthesis of half-sandwich late transition metal complexes based on carborane ligands.•Characteristic bonding modes of the transition metal complexes.•Versatile reactivity of metal complexes with unsaturated substrates.•Application of the transition metal complexes in synthesis.

This review describes the recent progress on the research of half-sandwich late transition metal complexes with functionalized carborane ligands. Continuous study on preparation of different types of carborane-based late transition metal complexes is of great interest because of their rich coordination mode, novel reactivity and promising applications in a variety of important fields. The synthetic pathways used for the preparation of half-sandwich complexes with [SS], [PP], [NP], [PS], [CN], [CS] coordination modes are summarized. Diverse reactivities (metal-metal bonding formation, insertion reaction and B–H activation) and catalytic activities (hydrogenation, olefin polymerization, H2 activation, asymmetric reduction and cross-coupling reaction) are also discussed in this article.

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