Reactivity of Silylene Complexes

The reactivity of metal-silylene complexes is more limited than the reactivity of carbene complexes. The cationic base-stabilized ruthenium-silylene complex in Equation 13.37 does not react with olefins or alkynes to undergo [2-1-2] addition reactions. However, a related complex did undergo [2-1-2] addition reactions with isocyanates, as shown in Equation 13.46. Other reactions of silylene complexes are distinct from those of carbene complexes or those of other conventional organometallic compounds. For example, the reaction of the silylene hydride with an acetylene generates a p-silylvinylarene complex 

MegP V SiPhaOTf -CH3CN MejP i SiPha Ph H3CCN 

---

Key questions regarding the reactivity of silylene complexes concern their potential role in metal-catalyzed transformations. For the participation of intermediate silylene complexes in a catalytic cycle, low-energy chemical pathways must exist for the conversion of simple silanes to silylene ligands via activation processes at the metal center. Most probably, a key step in such silylene-forming processes would be the a-migration of a group from silicon to the metal. In search of such a reaction, we prepared the methyl silyl complex shown in Eq. 3. This complex is quite... 

---