Synthesis of a Copper Silyl Complex by Disilane Activation

Abstract

Silylations remain a longstanding challenge in organic synthesis. While much recent work has focused on the use of first-row transition metals to perform silylations, catalysts based on platinum and palladium remain the catalysts of choice. One of the challenges of copper-catalyzed silylations is the use of specialized silicon reagents, such as silylboranes, that are required to create the intermediate copper silyl complex. While silylboranes have enjoyed considerable success in copper catalysis, they are air and water sensitive, making them difficult to work with, and they are difficult to synthesize or expensive to buy. Herein, we report the synthesis of a copper silyl complex from an easy to handle and relatively inexpensive disilane. The structure of the complex was confirmed by X-ray crystallography, and the mechanism has been investigated computationally.