Introduction Considerable theoretical and experimental efforts [1,2] are devoted to metal the hexaborides (MB 6 , where M is rare-earth, alkaline and alkaline-earth metals) due to their interesting physical properties. Doping of the cation sublattice of MB 6 with metal atoms of a different type M H is a well-known method of modification of their properties. A large class of ternary hexaborides M 1Àx M H x B 6 has been obtained recently, for example, the rare-earth-metal-doped CaB 6 : Ca 1Àx La x B 6 , Ca 1Àx Eu x B 6 etc. [3,4]. The first ternary hexaborides containing substitutional impurities (C atoms) in the anion sublattice ± the so-called carbaborides NaB 5 C, KB 5 C ± have been synthesized recently [5]. Besides impurities, some hexaborides (for example, KB 6 , BaB 6 etc.) may contain structural defects of a different type, such as cationic vacancies [1]. In this communication we report the first theoretical findings concerning the electronic properties of cation-deficient potassium hexaborides K 1Àx B 6 and the new ternary phase ± carbaboride KB 5 C.Computational The cubic hexaboride KB 6 (space group O 1