Abstract: Over many decades, boron chemistry has progressed in an exciting manner due to its diverse modes of bonding as well as reactivity.1 Transition metal (TM) stabilised lower boron species, like borylenes, borides, diboranes, and triboranes, have consistently became a topic of interest, especially for their significance in organic synthesis, catalysis, and cyclotrimerization.2 Their synthesis and structural investigations are accomplished by the utilization of the isolobal analogy and cluster electron counting rules, which link boranes, metallaboranes, and organometallic clusters in a modest and attractive way.3 Metal rich metallaborane clusters like borylene and boride are of high interest because of their unique geometry and have many advantages because of having high metal surfaces.4 Whereas, boron rich metallaborane clusters having M2B5 and M[B3H8] core is well known for having interesting bonding features in early transtition metal species (examples are shown in the chart below).5 In this research proposal seminar, a thorough literature of synthesis and chemistry of lower borane clusters of group VI transition metal will be presented along with some preliminary results in this area.

References:
[1] Kennedy, J. D. The Polyhedral Metallaboranes Part I. Metallaborane Clusters with Seven Vertices and Fewer. In Progress in Inorganic Chemistry; Lippard, S. J., Ed.; Wiley, 1984; Vol. 32, Chapter 6.
[2] Fehlner, T. P.; Halet, J. -F.; Saillard, J. -Y. Molecular Clusters. A Bridge to Solid-State Chemistry, Cambridge University Prss, Cambridge, 2007.
[3] Hoffmann, R. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 1982, 21, 711.
[4] Kar, S.; Pradhan, A. N.; Ghosh, S. Coord. Chem. Rev. 2021, 436, 213796.
[5] (a) Mohapatra, S; Gayen, S; Bag, R; Das, A; Ramalakshmi, R; Cordier, M; Ghosh, S. Organometallics 2023, 42, 1077. (b) Mohapatra, S.; Gayen, S.; Shyamal, S.; Halet, J.-F.; Ghosh, S. Inorganics 2023, 11, 248.