ChemInform Abstract: Inorganic Silylenes. Chemistry of Silylene, Dichlorosilylene, and Difluorosilylene

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter presents a study on inorganic silylenes focusing on the chemistry of silylene, dichlorosilylene, and difluorosllylene. The chapter discusses participation of inorganic silylenes in reactions of fundamental interest. Silylene chemistry seems to have developed in the shadow of carbene chemistry. Because of the direct impact on organosilicon chemistry and partly because of the interests in searching for other related reactive intermediates, such as silenes and disilenes, the development of the chemistry of organic silylenes has received much more attention than that of inorganic silylenes. The most studied reaction of silylene is the insertion reaction into silicon-hydrogen bonds. It was first postulated on the basis that higher silanes were generally formed in pyrolysis of silane, disilane, and trisilane. The chemistry of dichlorosilylene can be studied by either gas-phase or cocondensation reactions. One most important question yet to be answered in the chemistry of difluorosilylene is the spin states of the reacting monomeric SiF 2 generated by various methods. The formation of silirane as an initial step in addition reactions is consistent with the chemistry of singlet SiF 2 .