Approaches to the preparation of carborane-containing carbosilane compounds.

[Structure: see text] A novel type of carborane cluster assembly has been successfully prepared using carbosilane derivatives as a scaffold. Two synthetic routes have been used: One involves the reaction of a carbosilane containing terminal Si-Cl functions with the lithium salt of the phenyl-o-carborane, and the second one consists of a highly efficient hydrosilylation of tetravinylsilane with the corresponding carboranylsilane. The crystal structure of this carborane-containing carbosilane compound has been determined by X-ray diffraction.