Temperature-Dependent Chemoselective Hydrosilylation of Carbon Dioxide to Formaldehyde or Methanol Oxidation State

Abstract

Tethered Ru–S complexes were found to catalyze the hydrosilylation of carbon dioxide with a variety of simple monohydrosilanes selectively to bis(silyl)acetals or silylated methanol, respectively. The chemoselective conversion to either the formaldehyde or methanol oxidation state was solely dependent on the reaction temperature. This is the first example of a catalyst system that gives access to both of the intermediate oxidation states in a controlled way.