The carborane anion [closo-2-CB10H11](-) undergoes a polyhedral expansion reaction with [Co(CO)(3)(NO)] in tetrahydrofuran (THF) to afford [2-CO-2-NO-closo-2,1-CoCB10H11](-), isolated as the [N(PPh3)(2)](+) salt 1a. An X-ray diffraction study confirmed that the NO group is linearly bonded to cobalt. The CO ligand in la is readily replaced by PPh3 in the presence of Me3NO, or by PEt3 or CNBu' directly, to give the species [N(PPh3)(2)][2-L-2-NO-closo-2,1-CoCB10H11] [L=PPh3 (1b), PEt3 (1c), CNBut (1d)]. Reactions of these anionic complexes with electrophilic reagents are exemplified by treatment of le with CF3SO3Me in CH2Cl2-THF to give the neutral, zwitterionic B-THF species [2-NO-2-PEt3-7-O(CH2)(4)-closo-2,1-CoCB10H10] (3a), and by the reaction of 1b with [CuCl(PPh3)](4) and Tl[PF6] in THF to give bimetallic [2,7,11-{Cu(PPh3)}-7,11-(mu-H)(2)-2-NO-2-PPh3-closo-2,1-CoCB10H9] (4b). X-ray diffraction analysis of crystals of 4b confirmed the presence of a Co-Cu bond. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.