Reactions of Hydrosilanes with Transition Metal Complexes

This third review in a series involving reactions of hydrosilanes and transition metal complexes and characterization of the products covers the period 2009 thru 2013. After a brief discussion of other synthetic methods used for the formation of Si-TM complexes, Section 3 provides an extended discussion of the types of ligands and metal complexes used as reactants with hydrosilanes. The increase in use of pincer ligands in forming stable, isolable complexes is featured. Three tables list the complexes reported for primary, secondary, and tertiary silanes. Many reactions leading to SiTM complexes are initiated by loss of a ligand prior to oxidative addition of the hydrosilane or by a metathesis reaction. Structural data are tabulated for the isolated complexes and provide the Si-TM bond ranges for the elements in the "d" block. A major section on nonclassical (σ or agostic) complexes includes two general groupings with Si-H···TM and M-H···Si interactions. A section on solution processes identified by NMR spectroscopy is dominated by hydride exchange examples. A section on bonding outlines a unifying bonding description that has been proposed as well as calculations reported for Si-TM complexes, both real and hypothetical examples.