Mechanistic Insights into Palladium-Catalyzed Silylation of Aryl Iodides with Hydrosilanes through a DFT Study

The catalytic cycles of palladium-catalyzed silylation of aryl iodides, which are initiated by oxidative addition of hydrosilane or aryl iodide through three different mechanisms characterized by intermediates R₃ Si-Pd^II -H (Cycle A), Ar-Pd^II -I (Cycle B), and Pd^IV (Cycle C), have been explored in detail by hybrid DFT. Calculations suggest that the chemical selectivity and reactivity of the reaction depend on the ligation state of the catalyst and specific reaction conditions, including feeding order of substrates and the presence of base. For less bulky biligated catalyst, Cycle C is energetically favored over Cycle A, through which the silylation process is slightly favored over the reduction process. Interestingly, for bulky monoligated catalyst, Cycle B is energetically more favored over generally accepted Cycle A, in which the silylation channel is slightly disfavored in comparison to that of the reduction channel. Moreover, the inclusion of base in this channel allows the silylated product become dominant. These findings offer a good explanation for the complex experimental observations. Designing a reaction process that allows the oxidative addition of palladium(0) complex to aryl iodide to occur prior to that with hydrosilane is thus suggested to improve the reactivity and chemoselectivity for the silylated product by encouraging the catalytic cycle to proceed through Cycles B (monoligated Pd⁰ catalyst) or C (biligated Pd⁰ catalyst), instead of Cycle A.