Adamantyl silicon effect

In the adamantyl framework the /-silicon effect was studied by Grob and coworkers96,97. The first-y-trimethylsilyl substituent (cf 245) enhances the solvolysis rate of 1-bromoadamantane 246 by a factor of only 8.6 and the second trimethylsilyl group in... 

To study the possible stabilizing effect of [3-silyl cations, Olah and co-workers334 prepared the 2- [(1 -trimethylsilyl)vinyl]-2-adamantyl cation 132 [Eq. (3.43)] as well as the parent silicon-free carbocation. In contrast to the above observations, NMR data [the (Cl ), (C2), and (C2 ) carbons are more deshielded in 132 than in the parent ion] showed that cation 132 is destabilized compared with the silicon-free analog. Furthermore, at — 100°C the C(l) and C(3) carbons were found to be equivalent, whereas in the parent ion they were nonequivalent. This indicates a rapid rotation about the C(l)-C(3) bond in 132, which can be rationalized by assuming the intermediacy of the [3-silyl-stabilized cation 133. The difference between cation 132 and those having [3-silyl-stabilization discussed above may be the orthogonal arrangement of the [3-C-Si bond and the p-orbital of the carbocation center. 

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