Confinement and recognition of icosahedral main group cage molecules: Fullerene C₆₀ and o-, m-, p-dicarbadodecaborane(12)

Supramolecular chemistry of icosahedral main group cage molecules, fullerene C₆₀ and the carboranes o-, m-, p-B₂C₁₀H₁₂, is of interest in the purification of these molecules and in building up novel materials. The non-polarised, spherical like nature of C₆₀ requires specific shape and electronic complementarity between the interacting supramolecular synthons which leads to polarisation of the fullerene, whereas for the carboranes, hydrogen bonding involving the C-H groups, including the formation of bifurcated hydrogen bonds [C-H···(N,O)₂], and C-H···π interactions, along with shape complementarity, facilitate the self assembly process. Insight into future prospects in this field is presented.