Metallocarborane precursor and catalyst

An extraordinarily active carborane catalyst for use in hydrogenation, hydroformulation and isomerization reactions. The new catalyst is a modification of known metallocarborane catalysts having a transition metal symmetrically bonded to the pentagonal face of a dicarborane cage with two triphenylphosphine ligands and one hydrogen ligand occupying the remaining transition metal ligand sites. The new alkene-metallocarborane replaces one of the triphenylphosphine ligands with a lower chelating or bridging alkene which is bound to both the transition metal and the carborane cage. The alkene-metallocarborane catalyst may be used as a homogenous catalyst or may be bound to a suitable polymer support for use as a heterogeneous catalyst. The catalyst has been found to be among the most highly reactive catalysts known to date. It is believed the high reactivity of the new catalyst is due to the in situ irreversible hydrogenation of the alkene side chain to produce an open coordination site on the transition metal atom.