Silicon-carbon cation

It should be recognized that the stability of cation radicals generated by anodic oxidation is also affected by jS-silyl substitution. Stabilization of car-bocations by a silyl group situated at the -position is well known as the / effect . The interaction of the C Si a orbital with the empty p orbital of the carbon stabilizes the carbocation. Therefore, we can expect similar effects of silicon for cation radical species. The interaction of the filled C-Si a orbital with the half-filled orbital of the carbon may stabilize the cation radical. 

Cyclobutadiene dication, 61, is a 2jr-aromatic cation. In the carbon case, tetramethyl- and tetraphenyl-substituted derivatives of this dication were characterized in superacidic media already in 1976 [66]. A related persila-analogue, the tetrasilacyclobutadiene dication 62, was obtained only recently in an unexpected reaction between donor-stabilized silylene 63 and Cp ZrCl3. in 29% yield (Scheme 20) [67]. As an intermediate, a silicon(ll) cation, [LSi]", resulting from... 

Examples of silicon-containing macrocycles are rare and are perhaps incidental to the report of crown-type compounds. Obviously, silicon is more like carbon than a heteroatom in its ability to complex a cation. Nevertheless, there is a recent report of a crown compound which contains silicon as part of the macroring. Liptuga, Irodionova... 

While related to its carbon analogs, the existence of the RsSi species as a free ion in condensed phases had been doubted for a long time. However, NMR characterization using bulky aryl substituents has provided evidence for the triply coordinated silicon cation. " However, definitive evidence was recently reported by the groups of Reed and Lambert with a silyl cation species bound to three mesityl groups and a carborane [HCBnMesBrg] counterion (Eig. 7.5). It was suggested that... 

The structure of this silaamidide salt consists of well-separated, noninteracting lithium cations [Li(12-crown-4)THF]e and N,N -bis(2,4,6-tri-/-bu-tylphenyl)-f-butylsilaamidide anions. In the anion, the silicon is tricoordi-nated to a carbon atom of the r-butyl group and to two nitrogen atoms. 

The catalytic cycle proposed for the cyclization-hydrosilylation with the cationic palladium catalyst is classified into the type D in Scheme 2. The reaction consists of an olefin insertion into palladium-silicon bond and the metathesis between palladium-carbon and hydrogen-silicon bond, regenerating the silylpalladium intermediate and releasing the product where migratory insertion of the pendant olefin into the alkylpalladium is involved before the metathesis (Scheme 26).83a... 

The results indicate that the formation of long-lived trimethyl substituted silyl cations, in the presence of aromatic solvents, as claimed by Lambert et al.95 is not feasible under these conditions. Persistent silicenium ions require sterically more shielding substituents at silicon or hypercoordinative stabilization.96 98 13C and 29Si NMR chemical shifts were calculated for a series of disilylated arenium ions 85 using density functional theory (DFT). The calculations predict consistently the unsaturated carbon atoms to be too deshielded by 8-15 ppm. Applying an empirical correction, the deviation between experiment and theory was reduced to -0.4 to 9 ppm, and the 13C NMR chemical shift of the highly diagnostic cipso is reproduced by the calculations (Ad = -3.8 to 2.7 ppm).99... 

Suda and coworkers described the anodic oxidation of 2-silyl-l,3-dithianes which have two sulfur atoms on the carbon adjacent to silicon [42], In this case, however, the C Si bond is not cleaved, but the C-S bonds are cleaved to give the corresponding acylsilanes (Scheme 12). Although the detailed mechanism has not been clarified as yet, the difference in the anode material seems to be responsible for the different pathway of the reaction. In fact, a platinum plate anode is used in this reaction, although a carbon anode is usually used for the oxidative cleavage of the C-Si bond. In the anodic oxidation of 2-silyl-l,3-dithianes the use of a carbon anode results in a significant decrease in the yield of acylsilanes. The effects of the nature of the solvent and the supporting electrolyte may also be important for the fate of the initially formed cation radical intermediate. Since various 2-alkyl-2-silyl-l,3-dithianes can be readily synthesized, this reaction provides a convenient route to acylsilanes. 

The destabilizing effect of a silyl group compared with an alkyl group in trivalent carbocations was explained by the weaker hyperconjugation of the Si-R a-bond (R = alkyl) relative to a C-R cr-bond (R = H or alkyl) and by electrostatic repulsion between the adjacent positively charged cationic carbon and the electropositive silicon (10). 

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