MACROPOLYHEDRAL BORON-CONTAINING CLUSTER CHEMISTRY - ASSESSMENT OF THE POSSIBILITIES OF THERMOLYTIC MIXED-CLUSTER FUSION, AND OF THE USE OFSYNCHROTRON X-RADIATION FOR THE EXAMINATION OF SMALL SINGLE-CRYSTALS OF METALLABORANES - ISOLATION AND STRUCTURE OF 18-VERTEX [7-(CO)-7,7-(PME3)(2)-SYN-7-IRB17H20]

Thermolysis of [(CO)(PMe3)(2)HIrB8H12] with molten B10H14 resulted in small yields of eighteen-vertex [7-(CO)-7,7-(PMe3)(2)-syn-7-IrB17H20] for which a small crystal was examined by single-crystal diffraction a nalysis, using synchrotron X-radiation, in order to determine the mole cular structure.