Rhodium-Catalyzed Synthesis of Chiral Monohydrosilanes by Intramolecular C-H Functionalization of Dihydrosilanes

The preparation of chiral monohydrosilanes remains a rarely achieved goal. To this end a Rh-catalyzed desymmetrization of dihydrosilanes by way of intramolecular C(sp² )-H functionalization under simple and mild conditions has now been developed. This method provides easy access to a broad range of chiral monohydrosilanes in good yields with excellent enantioselectivities (up to >99 % ee). The resulting monohydrosilanes constitute a good platform to access stereogenic silicon compounds, as well as useful compounds to probe silicon stereochemistry.