The Rise of Boron-Containing Compounds: Advancements in Synthesis, Medicinal Chemistry, and Emerging Pharmacology.

Boron-containing compounds (BCC) have emerged as important pharmacophores. To date, five BCC drugs (including boronic acids and boroles) have been approved by the FDA for the treatment of cancer, infections, and atopic dermatitis, while some natural BCC are included in dietary supplements. Boron's Lewis acidity facilitates a mechanism of action via formation of reversible covalent bonds within the active site of target proteins. Boron has also been employed in the development of fluorophores, such as BODIPY for imaging, and in carboranes that are potential neutron capture therapy agents as well as novel agents in diagnostics and therapy. The utility of natural and synthetic BCC has become multifaceted, and the breadth of their applications continues to expand. This review covers the many uses and targets of boron in medicinal chemistry.

Towards the Application of Purely Inorganic Icosahedral Boron Clusters in Emerging Nanomedicine.

Traditionally, drugs were obtained by extraction from medicinal plants, but more recently also by organic synthesis. Today, medicinal chemistry continues to focus on organic compounds and the majority of commercially available drugs are organic molecules, which can incorporate nitrogen, oxygen, and halogens, as well as carbon and hydrogen. Aromatic organic compounds that play important roles in biochemistry find numerous applications ranging from drug delivery to nanotechnology or biomarkers. We achieved a major accomplishment by demonstrating experimentally/theoretically that boranes, carboranes, as well as metallabis(dicarbollides), exhibit global 3D aromaticity. Based on the stability-aromaticity relationship, as well as on the progress made in the synthesis of derivatized clusters, we have opened up new applications of boron icosahedral clusters as key components in the field of novel healthcare materials. In this brief review, we present the results obtained at the Laboratory of Inorganic Materials and Catalysis (LMI) of the Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC) with icosahedral boron clusters. These 3D geometric shape clusters, the semi-metallic nature of boron and the presence of exo-cluster hydrogen atoms that can interact with biomolecules through non-covalent hydrogen and dihydrogen bonds, play a key role in endowing these compounds with unique properties in largely unexplored (bio)materials.

Self-assembly of mercaptane-metallacarborane complexes by an unconventional cooperative effect: a C-H...S-H...H-B hydrogen/dihydrogen bond interaction.

The existence of a dihydrogen bond (S-H...H-B) and its combination with a C-H...S hydrogen bond in an unusual cooperative effect are demonstrated from a combination of experimental and theoretical methods. This cooperative effect seems to be responsible for self-assembly of mercaptane-metallacarborane complexes such as closo-[3-Ru(eta6-C6H6)-8-HS-1,2-C2B9H10] (1) and closo-[3-Co(eta5-C5H5)-8-HS-1,2-C2B9H10] (3), which present identical supramolecular two-dimensional polymeric networks. The findings, besides documenting structurally the first S-H...(H-B)2 dihydrogen bond and the unconventional cooperative ability of a boron-attached SH group, prove that substituted carboranes have the potential to serve as building blocks for assembling complex structures.