Metal hydride silanes

Lithium hydride is perhaps the most usehil of the other metal hydrides. The principal limitation is poor solubiUty, which essentially limits reaction media to such solvents as dioxane and dibutyl ether. Sodium hydride, which is too insoluble to function efficiently in solvents, is an effective reducing agent for the production of silane when dissolved in a LiCl—KCl eutectic at 348°C (63—65). Magnesium hydride has also been shown to be effective in the reduction of chloro- and fluorosilanes in solvent systems (66) and eutectic melts (67). 

The oxidative addition of silanes (with silicon-hydrogen bonds) to coordinatively unsaturated metal complexes is one of the most elegant methods for the formation of metal-silicon bonds. Under this heading normally reactions are considered which yield stable silyl metal hydrides. However, in some cases the oxidative addition is accompanied by a subsequent reductive elimination of, e.g., hydrogen, and only the products of the elimination step can be isolated. Such reactions are considered in this section as well. 

The vinylsilane C-Si bond can also be formed from a silane by reductive cyclization/hydrosilylation of a 1,6- or 1,7-diyne. Reductive cyclization of diynes is an important ring-forming method catalyzed by transition metals, and silanes are common reductants in this process. However, in many cases the silane serves only as a hydride source, and the silyl group is not retained in the isolated product.95 Here, the focus is on the more rare methods which allow simultaneous C-C bond formation and vinylsilane installation. 

The review is divided into sections according to the type of metal hydride for convenience in discussing the information systematically. At one extreme, kinetic studies have been performed with many types of silicon hydrides, and much of the data can be interpreted in terms of the electronic properties of the silanes imparted by substituents. At the other extreme, kinetic studies of tin hydrides are limited to a few stannanes, but the rate constants of reactions of a wide range of radical types with the archetypal tin hydride, tributylstannane, are available. Kinetic isotope effects for the various hydrides are collected in a short section, and this is followed by a section that compares the kinetics of reactions of silicon, germanium, and tin hydrides. 

Silane reacts with alkali metals dissolved in a solvent such as 1,2-dimethoxyethane to form the metal derivative MSiH3 and hydrogen or metal hydride ... 

The well-established reducing properties of the Sn—H bond have led to a number of useful synthetic methods for forming a tin-metal bond. In particular, many early transition-metal hydrides, -amides and -silanes readily eliminate H2/amines/silanes upon treatment with the Sn—H bond. Some examples are illustrated in equations 79-83 for... 

Most recently an example of a mfheninm catalyzed selective addition of primary silanes to alkenes was shown to involve mtheninm silylenes as intermediates (Scheme 5). A remarkable feature of this mechaiusm is, that the insertion of the alkene does not occur either into a metal-hydride or... 

The intermediate metal hydride has been isolated on occasion for Co and Mn , and Eq. (b) has actually been used to prepare silicon-metal bonds (see 5.2.3.2.2.). Inspection of Table 1 reveals the ease of reaction of Co2(CO)g compared with the other carbonyls. Normally this reaction is performed simply by condensing volatile silane onto the carbonyl in the absence of solvent and then allowing rapid reaction in the liquid phase at room temperature, but for the remaining carbonyls it is necessary to use elevated temperatures and sealed, evacuated tubes. The products are volatile and readily purified by vacuum fractionation or sublimation, but are often oxygen and moisture sensitive. The route is most efficient for RjSi derivatives of Co, Mn and Re, which are not generally obtainable by the reactions of silicon halides with metal carbonyl anions (see S.8.3.3.I.). In this way lCo(SiR,)(CO -] = Et, Phj, Clj -, (OEt)j, F/, ... 

Ignition or explosive reaction with metals (e.g., aluminum, antimony powder, bismuth powder, brass, calcium powder, copper, germanium, iron, manganese, potassium, tin, vanadium powder). Reaction with some metals requires moist CI2 or heat. Ignites with diethyl zinc (on contact), polyisobutylene (at 130°), metal acetylides, metal carbides, metal hydrides (e.g., potassium hydride, sodium hydride, copper hydride), metal phosphides (e.g., copper(II) phosphide), methane + oxygen, hydrazine, hydroxylamine, calcium nitride, nonmetals (e.g., boron, active carbon, silicon, phosphoms), nonmetal hydrides (e.g., arsine, phosphine, silane), steel (above 200° or as low as 50° when impurities are present), sulfides (e.g., arsenic disulfide, boron trisulfide, mercuric sulfide), trialkyl boranes. 

Alkali-metal hydrides, boranes or alanes react with alkoxysilanes or silanols to form Si—H bonds in reactions that often are preferred syntheses, depending on the availability of the silane reactant "Lithium hydride or alanate reductions used are ... 

The state of the art of reductions with metal hydrides a decade ago was the subject of comprehensive reviews. A detailed survey of reductions of carbonyl compounds with alkali and alkaline earth metal hydrides, borane and derivatives, alane and derivatives, metal borohydrides, metal aluminohydrides, silanes, stannanes and transition metal hydrides was compiled. The properties, preparation and applications of each reagent were discussed together with methods for their determination, handling techniques... 

Silane, germane, and stannane can be synthesized by the reduction of a variety of silicon, germanium, or tin compounds with active metal hydrides. The general method described below, involving the lithium hydroaluminate (LiAlHi) reduction of silicon tetrachloride and tin (IV) chloride, is convenient for the eflficient preparation of 1-50 mmoles of silane and stannane. The method is easily adapted to the synthesis of the deuterio compounds, i.e., silane-d4, germane-dt, and stannane-d4, by... 

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