Issue 19, 2021

Disila- and digermabenzenes

Abstract

Reactions of isolable disilynes and digermynes with alkynes can result in the formation of the corresponding disila- (DSBs) and digermabenzenes (DGBs), wherein two carbon atoms of the benzene ring are replaced by silicon or germanium atoms. Detailed structural and spectroscopic analyses of these DSBs and DGBs have revealed that they exhibit considerable aromaticity, comparable to that of benzene. However, in contrast to the all-carbon system benzene, these DSBs and DGBs are highly reactive toward small molecules such as oxygen, hydrogen, 1,3-dienes, and water. During the investigation of their reactivity, we discovered that a 1,2-DGB works as a catalyst for the cyclotrimerization of arylalkynes, which provides access to the corresponding 1,2,4-triarylbenzenes. In this perspective article, our recent progress in the area of DSB and DGB chemistry is summarized.

Graphical abstract: Disila- and digermabenzenes

Article information

Article type
Perspective
Submitted
09 jan 2021
Accepted
26 mar 2021
First published
26 mar 2021
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2021,12, 6507-6517

Disila- and digermabenzenes

T. Sasamori, Chem. Sci., 2021, 12, 6507 DOI: 10.1039/D1SC00130B

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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