Ruthenium complexes redistribution

In addition to ruthenium, Tilley and coworkers also reported that cationic iridium silylenoid complexes were efficient olefin hydrosilation catalysts [reaction (7.6)].56 This silylene complex catalyzes the hydrosilation of unhindered mono- or disubsti-tuted olefins with primary silanes to produce secondary silanes with anti Markovni-kov selectivity. Iridium catalyst 32 exhibited reactivity patterns similar to those of ruthenium 30 only primary silanes were allowed as substrates. In contrast to 30, cationic iridium 32 catalyzed the redistribution of silanes. Exposing phenylsilane to 5 mol% of 32 in the absence of olefin produced diphenylsilane, phenylsilane, and silane. 

A second type of reactive metal-silicon bond involves multiple bonding, as might exist in a silylene complex, LnM=SiR2. The synthesis of isolable silylene complexes has led to the observation of new silicon-based reactivity patterns redistribution at silicon occurs via bi-molecular reactions of silylene complexes with osmium silylene complexes, reactions have been observed that mimic proposed transformations in the Direct Process. And, very recently, ruthenium silylene complexes have been reported to be catalytically active in hydrosilylation reactions. 

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