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Updated: Jun 12, 2025

Imine Metathesis by Silica-Supported Catalysts Using the Methodology of Surface Organometallic Chemistry
Published on: October 18, 2019
Grignard reagents as simple precatalysts for the dehydrocoupling of amines and silanes
Claire E Bushey1, Diego R Javier-Jiménez1, Matthew B Reuter1
1Department of Chemistry, Discovery Hall, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405, USA. rory.waterman@uvm.edu.
Abstract:
Methyl magnesium bromide is a precatalyst for the dehydrocoupling of silanes and amines to produce aminosilane products under mild conditions. As a commercially available Grignard reagent, this precatalyst represents a simplification over previous magnesium-containing catalysts for Si-N bond formation while displaying similar activity to other magnesium-based catalysts. This observation is consistent with the hypothesis that competitive Schlenk equilibrium can be addressed by not using an ancillary ligand. While the activity of MeMgBr is lower than some reported catalysts, including other commercially available precatalysts, unique selectivity was observed for MeMgBr that may allow for directed synthesis of aminosilane products. This work continues to increase the accessibility of Si-N heterodehydrocoupling through a growing family of commercially available precatalysts that balance activity and selectivity.
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