Oligosilane Conformation by Stretching on a Staffane Rack

Efficient Methods for Preparing Silicon Compounds. http //dx.doi.Org/10.1016/B978-0-12-803530-6.00026-3 

The electronic (and vibrational) absorption spectra of individual conformers have been separated in the simplest cases, in which conformation is dictated by a single backbone dihedral angle w. As in the isosteiic n-butane, in the parent n-tetrasilane 

Probability Level. Reprinted with permission from Maziores, S. Raymond, M.K. Raabe, G. Prodi, A. Michl, J. [2]Staffane Rod as a Molecular Rack for Unravelling Conformer Properties Proposed Singlet Excitation Localization Isomerism in anti,anti,anti-Hexasilanes. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1997, 119, 6682—6683. Copyright 1997 American Chemical Society. 

In a few cases, we also oxidized the double sulfides to the double sulfones 2[m,n]. The procedure shall be illustrated on the preparation of 2[2,6] and its abridgment to 2[2,4]. 

All synthetic manipulations were carried out under an inert atmosphere of Ar. THF and Et20 were freshly distilled from Na/benzophenone. DMF was dried over activated 4-A molecular sieves and distilled at reduced pressure under an inert atmosphere. Dry absolute EtOH was produced by addition of EtOH 

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CONTROLLING n-OLIGOSILANE CONFORMATION BY STRETCHING ON A STAFFANE RACK... 

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