Selective homo- and cross-desilacoupling of aryl and benzyl primary silanes catalyzed by a barium complex

Abstract

Under mild conditions (25 °C, 5 mol% cat.), highly selective homo- and cross-desilacoupling of aryl and benzyl primary silanes to secondary silanes was achieved by the use of the heteroleptic barium aminobenzyl complex [(Tp^Ad,iPr)Ba(CH₂C₆H₄NMe₂-o)] (Tp^Ad,iPr = hydrotris(3-adamantyl-5-isopropyl-pyrazolyl)borate) (1) as a catalyst. Dihydrosilanes originating from catalytic redistribution and cross-desilacoupling reactions were isolated in fine yields, which demonstrates the feasible application of the barium complex in the syntheses of secondary aryl- and benzylsilanes.