Simple, high-yield methods for the synthesis of aldehydes directly from o-, m-, and p-carborane and their further conversions.

Aldehydes have long served as important building blocks for synthetic chemists, and carboranyl aldehydes are no exception. Recent literature reports, for example, illustrate their application as intermediates in biomedicine, materials science, and basic organic chemistry. We report here new methods for the single-step preparation of C-monoformyl and C,C-diformyl derivatives directly from o-, m-, and p-carborane, as well as improved synthetic routes to homologated carboranyl aldehydes. Additionally, reductive amination is used to transform these aldehydes into a series of 2 degrees amines of alpha-amino acid esters.

Synthesis of 3-Amino-1-carboxy-o-carborane and an Improved, General Method for the Synthesis of All Three C-Amino-C-carboxycarboranes.

Amino acids of the polyhedral carboranes have potential applications in boron neutron capture therapy and in other areas of bioorganic chemistry, but simple, general methods for their synthesis are nonexistent. A general method for synthesis of C-amino-C-carboxy derivatives of o-, m-, and p-carborane is reported, starting from their respective monoacids and proceeding through nucleophilic attack by an alcohol on the intermediate C-isocyanates. Deprotection of the resulting carbamates provides a simple method for access to the C-amines. Alternatively, the C-isocyanates can be isolated for further reactions. Carbonylation of the carbamates at the remaining carboranyl CH results in high-yield production of the carbamate-protected amino acid. Another related method for the high-yield preparation of the isomeric 3-amino-1-carboxy-o-carborane is also described which makes available for the first time all four reasonably accessible members of the series.