Easy Synthesis and Characterization of Poly(alkoxysilane)s Promoted by Silver-Platinum Mixed Complexes

One-pot Si-Si/Si-O dehydrocoupling of hydrosilanes with alcohols (1:1.5 mole ratio), promoted by a mixture of AgNO3-H2PtCl6 (150/1 mole ratio) readily gave poly(alkoxysilane)s in good yield (62-91%). The addition of small amount of platinum complex to form nanoparticles facilitated the silicon polymer formation when compared to the reaction rate with AgNO3 alone. The primary/secondary hydrosilanes [p-X-C6H4SiH3 (X = H, CH3, OCH3, F), PhCH2SiH3, and (PhSiH2)2] and alcohols [MeOH, EtOH, (i)PrOH, PhOH, and CF3(CF2)2CH2OH] were used for the reaction. The weight average molecular weight and polydispersity of the poly(alkoxysilane)s were in the range of 1,690-7,100 Dalton and 1.44-3.49, respectively. The reaction of phenylsilane with ethanol (1:3 mole ratio) using the Ag-Pt complexes produced triethoxyphenylsilane only, as expected. The reaction of phenylsilane with Ge-132 produced an insoluble cross-linked gel.