Polyanionic and electroactive hybrids based on octasilsesquioxanes bearing metallacarborane units are developed. They show remarkable solubility in organic solvents and outstanding thermal stability. The metallacarboranes act as independent units simultaneously undergoing the reversible redox process.

Two novel styrene-containing meta-carborane derivatives substituted at the second carbon cluster atom (C) with either a methyl (Me) or a phenyl (Ph) group are introduced herein along with a new set of stilbene-containing ortho- (o-) and meta- (m-) carborane dyads. The latter set of compounds have been prepared from styrene-containing carborane derivatives via a Heck coupling reaction. High regioselectivity has been achieved for these compounds by using a combination of palladium complexes [Pd(dba)]/[Pd(t-BuP)] as a catalytic system, yielding exclusively E isomers. All compounds have been fully characterised and the crystal structures of seven of them were analysed by X-ray diffraction. The absorption spectra of these compounds are similar to those of their respective fluorophore groups (styrene or stilbene), showing a very small influence of the substituent (Me or Ph) linked to the second C atom or the cluster isomer (o- or m-). On the other hand, fluorescence spectroscopy revealed high emission intensities for Me-o-carborane derivatives, whereas their Ph-o-carborane analogues evidenced an almost total lack of fluorescence, confirming the significant role of the substituent bound to the adjacent C in o-carboranes. In contrast, all the m-carborane derivatives display similar photoluminescence (PL) behavior regardless of the substituent attached to the second C, demonstrating its small influence on emission properties. Additionally, m-carborane derivatives are significantly more fluorescent than their o-counterparts, reaching quantum yield values as high as 30.2%. Regarding solid state emission, only stilbene-containing Ph-o-carborane derivatives, which showed very low fluorescence in solution, exhibited notable PL emission in films attributed to aggregation-induced emission. DFT calculations were performed to successfully complement the photoluminescence studies, supporting the experimentally observed photophysical behavior of the styrene and stilbene-containing carborane derivatives. In conclusion, in this work it is proved that it is possible to tailor the PL properties of carborane-stilbene dyads by changing the C substituent and the carborane isomer.

A series of novel fluorescent BODIPY-anionic boron cluster conjugates bearing [BH] (5, 6), [3,3'-Co(1,2-CBH)] (7, 8), and [3,3'-Fe(1,2-CBH)] (9) anions have been readily synthesized from meso-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-4,4-difluoro-4-bora-3 a,4 a-diaza- s-indacene (BODIPY 4), and their structure and photoluminescence properties have been assessed. Linking anionic boron clusters to the BODIPY (4) does not alter significantly the luminescent properties of the final fluorophores, showing all of them similar emission fluorescent quantum yields (3-6%). Moreover, the cytotoxicity and cellular uptake of compounds 5-9 have been analyzed in vitro at different concentrations of B (5, 50, and 100 μg B/mL) using HeLa cells. At the lowest concentration, none of the compounds shows cytotoxicity and they are successfully internalized by the cells, especially compounds 7 and 8, which exhibit a strong cytoplasmic stain indicating an excellent internalization efficiency. To the best of our knowledge, these are the first BODIPY-anionic boron cluster conjugates developed as fluorescent dyes aiming at prospective biomedical applications. Furthermore, the cellular permeability of the starting BODIPY (4) was improved after the functionalization with boron clusters. The exceptional cellular uptake and intracellular boron release, together with the fluorescent and biocompatibility properties, make compounds 7 and 8 good candidates for in vitro cell tracking.

The functionalization of POSS with vinylstilbene–carborane moieties leads to tunable fluorescent hybrids with an outstanding thermal stability.