Silicon hydride with radical

This review focuses on the kinetics of reactions of the silicon, germanium, and tin hydrides with radicals. In the past two decades, progress in determining the absolute kinetics of radical reactions in general has been rapid. The quantitation of kinetics of radical reactions involving the Group 14 metal hydrides in condensed phase has been particularly noteworthy, progressing from a few absolute rate constants available before 1980 to a considerable body of data we summarize here. 

In Table 3.2 are collected the rate constants of some silicon hydrides with a variety of radicals like the ir-type secondary or tertiary alkyl radicals, the o-type phenyl or acyl radicals, and the halogenated carbon-centred radicals. A few Arrhenius parameters are also available and reported here below. 

One of the propagation steps in Scheme 1 is the hydrogen abstraction from the reducing agent by a radical. In a recent review Chatgilialoglu and Newcomb reported on the reaction kinetics of silicon, germanium and tin hydrides with radicals [12]. 

The hydrogen abstraction from the Si-H moiety of silanes is fundamentally important for these reactions. Kinetic studies have been performed with many types of silicon hydrides and with a large variety of radicals and been reviewed periodically. The data can be interpreted in terms of the electronic properties of the silanes imparted by substituents for each attacking radical. In brevity, we compared in Figure 1 the rate constants of hydrogen abstraction from a variety of reducing systems by primary alkyl radicals at ca. 80°C. ... 

The reaction of thiyl radicals with silicon hydrides (Reaction 8) is the key step of the so-called polariiy-reversal catalysis in the radical chain reduction. The reaction is strongly endothermic and reversible with alkyl-substituted silanes (Reaction 8). For example, the rate constants fcsH arid fcgiH for the couple triethylsilane/ 1-adamantanethiol are 3.2 x 10 and 5.2xlO M s respectively. 

The reactions of atoms or radicals with silicon hydrides, germanium hydrides, and tin hydrides are the key steps in formation of the metal-centered radicals [Eq. (1)]. Silyl radicals play a strategic role in diverse areas of science, from the production of silicon-containing ceramics to applications in polymers and organic synthesis.1 Tin hydrides have been widely applied in synthesis in radical chain reactions that were well established decades ago.2,3 Germanium hydrides have been less commonly employed but provide some attractive features for organic synthesis. 

The reaction of carbon-centered radicals with silicon hydrides is of great importance in chemical transformations under reducing conditions where an appropriate silane is either the reducing agent or the mediator for the formation of new bonds.23... 

Rate Constants for Reactions of Carbon-Centered Radicals with Silicon Hydrides... 

The kinetic data for reactions of nitrogen-centered radicals with silicon hydrides is limited to rate constants for piperidinyl radical 18 (Table IV) by using ESR spectroscopy.61 The two remarkable features of the data are... 

As with silicon hydrides, the reaction of atoms or radicals with germanium hydrides is the key step for the majority of reactions forming germyl radicals. However, kinetic data for the reactions of organic radicals with germanium hydrides in solution are limited to carbon- and oxygen-centered radicals. 

I thank Keith U. Ingold for having introduced me to this subject. When I arrived in Ottawa at the National Research Council of Canada in 1979 for three years postdoctoral work with him, very little was known on the reactivity of silyl radicals. At that time, several papers dealing with kinetics of silyl radicals were published, which allowed the reactivity of silyl radical to be translated into a quantitative base. Special thanks go to David Griller for his collaboration on the initial work on hydrogen donor abilities of silicon hydrides during the late 1980s. 

The reaction of atoms, radicals or excited triplet states of some molecules with silicon hydrides is the most important way for generating silyl radicals [1,2]. Indeed, Reaction (1.1) in solution has been used for different applications. Usually radicals X are centred at carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, or sulfur atoms... 

PhSeSiRs reacts with BusSnH under free radical conditions and affords the corresponding silicon hydride (Reaction 1.8) [19,20]. This method of generating RsSi radicals has been successfully applied to hydrosilylation of carbonyl groups, which is generally a sluggish reaction (see Chapter 5). 

Table 3.1 Rate constants (at 80 °C) and Arrhenius parameters for the reactions of primary alkyl radicals with silicon hydrides ...

The kinetic data for halogenated carbon-centred radicals with silicon hydrides are also numerous and a few examples are shown in Table 3.2. The kinetic data for perfluoroalkyl radicals were obtained by competition of the appropriate silane with the addition to an olefin [16-18]. The kinetic deuterium isotope effects (/ h/ d) on the attack of on the Si—D bond of... 

The reaction of thermally and photochemically generated tcrt-butoxyl radicals with silicon hydrides (Reactions 3.13 and 3.14) has been extensively used for the generation of silyl radicals in EPR studies, time-resolved optical techniques, and organic synthesis. 

Table 3.4 Rate constants for reactions of tcrt-butoxyl [23-27] and cumylperoxyl [29] radicals with silicon hydrides...

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