Silyl anions inversion barrier

The preceding experiments provide chemical evidence for significant configurational stability of silyl anions. An NMR study of diisopropylphenylsilyllithium showed that the isopropyl methyl groups are anisochronous up to 185°C, indicating that the barrier to inversion at silicon in the silyl anion is greater than 24 kcal/mol. (30). 

A variety of other silyl anions has been studied. Hopkinson and Lien, using a dz basis set, found that the potentially conjugated NCSiH2, 0=CHSiHj and HC=CSiH2 anions314,352 are pyramidal at silicon and have substantial barriers to inversion (35.2, 19.9 and 34.3 kcalmol-1, respectively)314. This indicates that contributions... 

As a freely ionic, monomeric species, the silyl anion may undergo pyramidal inversion about the silicon center (equation 1). For the parent system H3Si , Nimlos and Ellison have obtained quantitative information about the inversion barrier from the photoelectron spectrum in the gas phase2. The photoelectron spectrum could be simulated by a model of the vibrational frequency as a linear oscillator perturbed by a Gaussian barrier. The out-of-plane angle (the deviation of one H from the plane defined by Si and the other two Hs) was found to be 32 2° and the barrier to inversion 9000 2000 cm 1 (26 6 kcal mol-1). This is the only experimental measurement to date of the barrier to inversion about trivalent, negative silicon. The anion was produced by reaction of silane (SiH4) with ammonia, and the photoelectron spectrum of the m/z 31 peak was then recorded. 

In this chapter, we have tried to emphasize general aspects of main-group chemical bonding, with particular emphasis on periodic trends. The periodic table remains the most important classification tool in chemistry, and it is crucial to understand even subtle secondary periodicities if one is to make efficient use of the various elements for different chemical applications. The radial nodal structure of the valence orbitals has been pointed out to account for more of the known trends than most practitioners of chemistry are aware of. For example, the inversion barriers of phosphines or silyl anions, the dependence of the inert-pair effect on the electronegativity of the substituents, the stability of carbene- or carbyne-type species or of multiple bonds between heavy main-group elements are aU intricately linked to hybridization defects of s- and p-valence orbitals of disparate sizes. Even the question of hypervalency is closely connected to the effects of primogenic repulsion . 

Stereoselectivity of radical addition is not limited to sulfonyl radicals. The (rani-addition has also been observed for tin, bromine, chlorine, and silyl radicals. Varying degrees of selectivity has been observed for addition of carbon-centered radicals, depending on the substituents size and effect on the inversion barrier. Because the importance of negative hyperconjugation decreases for radicals in comparison to the anions, the barriers for inversion decrease in parallel. As a result, the selectivity can erode under conditions when trapping of the radical is slower than the equilibration, e.g. in the thiol-yne click reaction, which often provide a mixture of E and Z-vinyl sulfides. ... 

Quantum chemical calculations allow an assessment of possible intermediates during the racemization process, since the results can be correlated with experimental observables. Starting from model system 4, it is possible to locate transition state TS-4 for the inversion at the silicon center (Fig. 1). The calculated barrier (159 kJ/mol for the inversion) is decreased drastically if the methyl groups at the silicon center are exchanged by phenyl groups, because these substituents can stabilize the transition state. These results prove once more the importance of the presence of solvated molecules in calculations in order to obtain the sufficient description of inversion processes and barriers, which can be compared with experimental results (inversion barrier for MesSi 199 kJ/mol). Nevertheless, when calculations are considered in the present literature, free silyl anions and unsolvated silyllithium compounds are still discussed as appropriate model systems [14]. 

Keywords silyl anions, dynamic NMR spectroscopy, inversion barrier, activation parameters... 

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