Isolation of a stable, acyclic, two-coordinate silylene

Area of Science:

• Organosilicon Chemistry
• Main Group Chemistry

Background:

• Silylenes are silicon analogues of carbenes with divalent silicon.
• Stable silylenes are valuable synthons in organosilicon chemistry.

Purpose of the Study:

• To synthesize and characterize a novel, stable, acyclic two-coordinate silylene.
• To investigate the reactivity of the synthesized silylene.

Main Methods:

• Reduction of a dibromosilylene precursor (Br(2)Si(SAr(Me(6)))(2)) using a magnesium(I) reductant.
• Characterization of the resulting silylene using spectroscopic and crystallographic techniques.

Main Results:

• Successful synthesis of a stable, acyclic two-coordinate silylene, Si(SAr(Me(6)))(2).
• The silylene exhibits a V-shaped silicon coordination with a S-Si-S angle of 90.52(2)°.
• The silylene readily reacts with alkyl halides but shows no reaction with hydrogen under ambient conditions.

Conclusions:

• The synthesized silylene is a stable compound with unique structural features.
• The electronic properties of the silylene, specifically the energy difference between frontier orbitals, influence its reactivity.
• This study expands the scope of stable silylene chemistry and their potential applications.