“…Although a great deal of time has been spent in comparing and contrasting carborane systems of varying size in terms of stability, rearrangement, and reactivity [ 7 , 8 , 17 – 23 ], a special effort has been expended in understanding closo - \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$${\text{B}}_{{12}} {\text{H}}^{{2 - }}_{{12}}$$\end{document} , closo -C 2 B 10 H 12 , and their respective derivatives [ 21 , 24 – 29 ], which is due primarily to their unusually high stability. An eclectic array of mechanisms have been quite naturally suggested for the intermolecular rearrangement of closo -C 2 B 10 H 12 , from those involving highly symmetric cubeoctahedral and anticubeoctahedral transition states to those with relatively simple triangular face rotations (TFRs) and diamond–square–diamond (DSD) steps [ 4 , 5 , 20 , 25 , 30 – 36 ]. Rearrangements in substituted icosahedral C 2 B 10 H 12 have been studied experimentally by way of 10 B-labeling, halogen substitution, methyl substitution, and even tethered linkages [ 3 , 24 , 28 , 36 , 37 ] in the hopes that the electronic structure of the cage will be preserved.…”