Silyl radical with silicon atom

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 effects of silyl groups on the chemical behavior of the anion radicals generated by cathodic reduction is also noteworthy. It is well known that silyl groups stabilize a negative charge at the a position. Therefore, it seems to be reasonable to consider that the anion radicals of re-systems are stabilized by a-silyl substitution. The interaction of the half-filled re orbital of the anion radical with the empty low-lying orbital of the silicon (such as dx-pK interaction) results in partial electron donation from the re-system to the silicon atom which eventually stabilizes the anion radical. 

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... 

For a long time, this knowledge on carbon-centred radicals has driven the analysis of spectroscopic data obtained for silicon-centred (or silyl) radicals, often erroneously. The principal difference between carbon-centred and silyl radicals arises from the fact that the former can use only 2s and 2p atomic orbitals to accommodate the valence electrons, whereas silyl radicals can use 3s, 3p and 3d. The topic of this section deals mainly with the shape of silyl radicals, which are normally considered to be strongly bent out of the plane (a-type structure 2) [1]. In recent years, it has been shown that a-substituents have had a profound influence on the geometry of silyl radicals and the rationalization of the experimental data is not at all an extrapolation of the knowledge on alkyl radicals. Structural information may be deduced by using chemical, physical or theoretical methods. For better comprehension, this section is divided in subsections describing the results of these methods. 

Interestingly, the corresponding reaction with the silylether group in the (3-position afforded completely different products [23]. Indeed, the reduction of 79 gave the ort/ o-silylated phenol 80 in a 50% yield (Scheme 6.17). The key step is the Sni reaction of aryl radical 81 at McsSi silicon atom with formation of silyl radical 82, confirming the preference for a five-membered transition state. 

The reaction is formally a hydrosilylation process analogous to the homogeneous reactions described in Chapter 5. Scheme 8.11 shows the proposed H—Si(lll) surface-propagated radical chain mechanism [48]. The initially formed surface silyl radical reacts with alkene to form a secondary alkyl radical that abstracts hydrogen from a vicinal Si—H bond and creates another surface silyl radical. The best candidate for the radical translocation from the carbon atom of the alkyl chain to a silicon surface is the 1,5 hydrogen shift shown in Scheme 8.11. Hydrogen abstraction from the neat alkene, in particular from the... 

With the functional groups at different silicon atoms as in 247 only the migration to the vinyl group occurs. A competitive reaction is the cleavage to yield the silyl radicals 248 and 249. 

Compounds with two or more silicon atoms directly attached to one another, subdivided into sections based first on the number of silicon atoms and then on the carbon functionality attached to the silicon atoms. Frequently, but not exclusively, the main photochemical behavior involves homolysis of a silicon-silicon bond yielding silyl radicals, but in some cases silylenes result directly from the photochemistry. The resulting compounds are frequently the products of a molecular rearrangement. 

As a result of several decades of research it is now known that a polysilane of three or more contiguous silicon atoms is susceptible to reaction by one or more of several pathways when photolyzed, each associated with cleavage of a silicon-silicon bond. The two most common processes observed are the homolysis of a silicon-silicon bond to yield a pair of silyl radicals, and the elimination of a silicon atom from the chain in the form of a silylene. As discussed in Section VII, the use of trisilanes, particularly where the central silicon atom bears aryl groups, has become an important route for the preparation of a wide variety of diarylsilylenes, A Si , many of which have been captured in glasses at low temperature, or have been allowed to dimerize to disilenes by warming. 

The most likely course of this conversion involves H abstraction by bromine atoms. The resulting radical may undergo homolysis of the fullerene-silicon bond as outlined in Scheme 57. The silyl radical thus formed then undergoes intramolecular cyclization to give 132. While this type of intramolecular reaction readily occurs with radical species, it is not a common one in silicon ring systems. The Si-Si bond of 132 then must react with bromine followed by hydrolysis to give siloxane 131. 

The difference in reactivity was also found for the paramagnetic surface defects -(=Si-0-)3Si radicals [16]. Since the observed effects are due to the difference in the structure of the nearest environment of the surface silicon atom, it is most pronounced when this atom acts as an active site. This difference should cease with an increase in the number of chemical bonds that separate the active site and surface silicon atom of the solid with which it is linked. They are almost absent for the (=Si-0-)3Si-CFl2- CF[2 radical in which the active site is localized on the terminal carbon atom [16]. For this reason, it is desirable to have a probe in the immediate contact with a lattice silicon atom. The Si-H group fits best these requirements. Such groups can be obtained upon the interaction of the silyl-type radicals with the hydrogen or deuterium molecules (cf. Section 6.3). The IR band due to the stretching vibrations of the Si-Fl bonds obtained upon the hydrogenation of silyl radicals ... 

The calculations predict that the degenerate homolytic substitution by silyl radical at the silicon atom of disilane proceeds by mechanisms that involve either a back-side or a front-side attack, having similar activation barriers of 12.6 and 13.9 kcalmol-1, respectively. Similar conclusions were obtained for the degenerate homolytic substitution reactions involving GeH3 and SnH3, with barriers of 15.6 kcalmol-1 ( back-side ) and... 

A radical approach to cyclization is offered by the intramolecular homolytic substitution (ShO reaction at a silicon center. Reaction of phenyl bromoacetate with a stannylated silyl homoallyl ether under atom transfer conditions provides cyclic alkoxysilanes (Equation (119)).2... 

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