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Updated: Jun 4, 2026

Synthesis and Catalytic Performance of Gold Intercalated in the Walls of Mesoporous Silica
Published on: July 9, 2015
Mechanism of the dehydrogenative silylation of alcohols catalyzed by cationic gold complexes: an experimental and
Stéphanie Labouille1, Aurélie Escalle-Lewis, Yves Jean
1Laboratoire Hétéroéléments et Coordination, UMR CNRS 7653, DCPH, Département de Chimie, Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau Cedex, France.
Abstract:
The catalytic activity both of cationic [(XDPP)Au][X] (XDPP = bis-2,5-diphenylphosphole xantphos X = BF(4)) and of the isolated gold hydride complex [(XDPP)(2)Au(2)H][OTf] in the dehydrogenative silylation process is presented. A parallel theoretical study using density functional theory revealed a mechanism involving the counter anion as a co-catalyst, which was experimentally confirmed by testing various counterions (X = OTf, NTf(2), PF(6)). Finally, a "Au(2)H(+)" species was determined as the intermediate during the catalytic cycle, which correlates well with the experimental findings on the first example of catalytic activity of an isolated "Au-H" complex.
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