Reaction of ferrocenylmethyl derivatives of silicon and germanium with methanol: Solvolysis of the metal-carbon bond in the presence of ferric ions

Abstract

Nine ferrocenylmethyl derivatives of silicon and germanium were prepared and found to undergo methanolysis of their C-M (M = Si or Ge) bonds in the presence of ferric ions to give ferrocenylmethyl methyl ether. For this reaction, relative rate studies and polarographic studies of the pertinent ferrocene derivatives were carried out to obtain some insight into the reaction mechanism. The substituted ferricenium ion intermediate which is formed by oxidation with ferric ions can readily undergo nucleophilic attack by methanol on the metal (Si or Ge) atom. The observed higher reactivity of the germanium derivative relative to the silicon congener in this reaction is not that expected for the usual base-catalyzed attack at the metal atom, and may be reasonably interpreted in terms of a possible change in the transition state depending on the nature of the leaving group, viz. on the acidity of the corresponding hydrocarbon acid, in the solvolysis of the C-M bond.