Cyclic polysilanes : IX. The reaction of cyclopermethylpolysilanes and α ω-dichloropermethylpolysilanes with chlorine

Abstract

The reaction of Si 6Me 12 and Si 5Me 10 with chlorine gives 1,6-Cl 2Si 6Me 12 and i,5-Cl 2Si 5Me 10, respectively, and these compounds are in turned cleaved by chlorine to give smaller α, ω-dichloropolysilanes. The terminal SiSi bond in these linear chlorosilanes appears to be relatively unreactive towards chlorine, with chlorination occurring instead at the interior SiSi bond positions in the chain. With larger amounts of chlorine, the methyl group in 1,2-Cl 2Si 2Me 4 can also be chlorinated. The relative reactivities toward chlorine were found to be: Si 5Me 10⋙Si 6Me 12>1,6⩾ 1,⩾ 1,4⪢ 1,3⪢ 1,2.