Reversible ethylene dihydrogen mediated 11-vertex nido → closo → nido conversion in a metallathiaborane cluster

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/ja078197j

The reaction of the unsaturated nido-rhodathiaborane [8,8-(PPh₃)₂-8,7-RhSB₉H₁₀] (1) with pyridine (py) generates the new nido-hydridorhodathiaborane [8,8,8-(PPh₃)(H)-9-(py)-8,7-RhSB₉H₉] (2) that reacts with excess ethene to give ethane and the novel ethene-ligated closo cluster [1,1-(PPh₃)(η²-C₂H₄)-3-(py)-1,2-RhSB₉H₈] (3). Reduction of 3 with dihydrogen regenerates 2, leading to a reaction cycle that opens new routes for potential catalytic hydrogenation of olefins. Copyright