Arylsilyl anions

Silyl anions that have at least one aryl group on silicon are described in this section. 

The action of Li metal on PhjSiCl in tetrahydrofuran (THF) yields PhjSiLi, together with LiCl as by-product (J). Ph3SiRb and PhjSiCs are 

Salt-free PhjSiLi, PhjSiNa, and PhjSiK are obtained by cleavage of the Si-Si bond of hexaphenyldisilane by alkali metals in ethereal solvents such as 1,2-dimethoxyethane (DME) and THF [Eq. (1)] (5,6). Ph3SiK is 

PhaSi-SiPha ------------ 2PhaSi-M ---------- 2PhaSi-SiMea + 2MCI (1) 

A Group 12 derivative (Ph3Si)2Hg is prepared by reaction of Ph3SiH with (PhCH2)2Hg at 165-I68°C (72). 

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In subsequent reactions, the arylsilyl anion (VI) can react with other arylsilanes to give the 1,4-coupling product or with DME to give a methyl-substituted derivative that, under the reaction conditions, may be further reduced to new radical anions (135) ... 

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