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A Free Silanide from Nucleophilic Substitution at Silicon(II)
Léon Witteman1, Tim Evers1, Martin Lutz2
1Department of Chemistry, Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science, Utrecht University, Universiteitsweg 99, 3584, CG, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Abstract:
A computationally guided synthetic route to a free silanide derived from tris(3-methylindol-2-yl)methane ([(tmim)Si]- ) through nucleophilic substitution on the SiII precursor (Idipp)SiCl2 is reported (Idipp=2,3-dihydro-1,3-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)-1H-imidazol-2-ylidene). This approach circumvents the need for strained tetrahedral silanes as synthetic intermediates. Computational investigations show that the electron-donating properties of [(tmim)Si]- are close to those of PMe3. Experimentally, the [(tmim)Si]- anion is shown to undergo clean complexation to the base metal salts CuCl and FeCl2 , demonstrating the potential utility as a supporting ligand.
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