Silylene transfer

With the stable donor adducts of silylene complexes, valuable model compounds are now available for reactive intermediates which otherwise cannot be observed directly. For example, a side reaction occurring in the hydrosilation process [61 -63], is the dehydrogenative coupling of silanes to disilanes. This reaction could be explained in terms of a silylene transfer reaction with a coordinated silylene as the key intermediate. 

The silacyclopropanation of acyclic and cyclic alkenes with 169, catalyzed by AgOTf, occur at room temperature or even below to yield new cyclosilapropanes 173-177. In the case of chiral /3-pinene, the silacyclopropanation occurs enantioselectively (dr > 95 5) (Scheme 26).312 Mechanistic studies have been undertaken, which suggest that silyl silver complexes play an important role in the catalytic cycle of the silylene transfer.310... 

Products of the type (24) also result from enolizable ketones without the formation of silyl enol ethers if the reaction is carried out in the presence of tertiary phosphines. The proposed mechanism involves the betaine R3P—SiMe2 as the silylene transfer agent. In preventing a 1,3-hydrogen migration, the phosphine may well induce dimerization prior to oxasilacyclopropane formation. The dioxadisilacyclohexane (24) can be reduced with LiAIHU to give dimethylsilyl-substituted carbinols, so the reaction is of synthetic value (Scheme 34) (78JA7074). 

The clustering reactions of SiD + (n = 0-3) and Si2D + (n = 0-6) cations with deuterated disilane, Si2D6, have been measured in a FTMS study110. The dominant pathway for these reactions was found to correspond to silylene transfer and SiD4 elimination. The overall reactivity of disilane compared to monosilane was found to be higher, and this was explained by the fact that the silicon-silicon bond in disilane is considerably weaker (76 kcalmol-1) than the Si—H bond of SiFLt (88 kcalmol-1)111. Thus the insertion of Si+ into the Si—Si bond was calculated to be 17 kcalmol-1 more favorable than Si+ insertion into the Si—H bond of SiFFt106,112. 

Siliranes are also formed by the reaction of the cyclotrisilane [2-(Me2NCH2)C6H4]6Si3 with terminal and strained internal olefins under mild thermal conditions. The products obtained from the thermolysis of the siliranes thus prepared suggest a thermal equilibrium of the silirane with the cyclotrisilane and the corresponding alkene. This observation provides evidence for an equilibrium between the silylene and the cyclotrisilane and, moreover, proves that free silylenes are involved in the silylene transfer reaction48. 

Silver is often used as a halophile. In the context of six-electron species, the role of silver atoms in carbene, nitrene, and silylene transfer reactions, including aziridination, CH insertion, ring expansion, and silacyclopropanation, has been reviewed.9... 

Silylene transfer has been shown to occur to homoallylic ethers with two di-r-butylsily-lene units being incorporated and complete rearrangement of the carbon backbone (Scheme 35).60... 

Silylene transfer to a,j3-unsaturated carbonyl compounds has been shown to provide a stereoselective method for the synthesis of compounds possessing quaternary carbon stereocenters (Scheme 36).61... 

Silylene transfer to a, j3-unsaturated esters produces oxasilacyclopentenes, which undergo reaction with water to give /S-silyl ester (38) with high diastereoselectivity. 

Silylene transfer to a -unsaturated esters produces oxasilacyclopentenes and provides a new method for regio- and stereo-selective formation of enolate that can undergo facile and selective Ireland-Claisen rearrangements and aldol addition reactions to provide products with multiple contiguous stereocenters and quaternary carbon centers (Scheme 37). 

The reaction of benzo[A]-l,3-diazasilole 85 with lithium alkyls yields the insertion product 112. It was suggested that the initial step of this reaction is the formation of the donor-acceptor complex 113 (Scheme 10) <2002JOM272, 2002JOM150>. The tetracoordinated silicon compounds 112 might have synthetic potential as silylene transfer reagents. 

This chapter examines the synthesis and reactivity of transition metal silylenoids and silylmetal complexes to provide context for the focus of this chapter silver-mediated silylene transfer reactions. 

Palladium(O) complexes also catalyze the transfer of di-terf-butylsilylene from m-dimethylsilacyclopropane 48 to alkynes (Scheme 7.6).61 In the presence of 5 mol % of (Ph3P)2PdCl2, the formation of dimethylsilacyclopropene 51 could be achieved at 110°C. In the absence of the palladium catalyst, silylene transfer from silacyclo-propane 48 to 3-hexyne occurred over 3 days at 130°C. While a reasonable mechanism was proposed involving palladacycle 49 as an intermediate, an alternative mechanism could involve palladium silylenoid intermediate 50. 

Exploration of the reactivity of cyclohexene silacyclopropane led Woerpel and coworkers to discover that the inclusion of metal salts enabled silylene transfer to monosubstituted olefins at reduced temperatures (Table 7.1).11,74 A dramatic reduction in the temperature of transfer was observed when cyclohexene silacyclopropane was exposed to copper, silver, or gold salts. Silver salts were particularly effective at decomposing 58 (entries 6-11). The use of substoichiometric quantities of silver triflate enabled ra-hexene silacyclopropane 61 to be formed quantitatively at —27°C (entry 6). The identity of the counterion did affect the reactivity of the silver salt. In general, better conversions were observed when noncoordinating anions were employed. While the reactivity differences could be attributed to the solubility of the silver salt in toluene, spectroscopic experiments suggested that the anion played a larger role in stabilizing the silylenoid intermediate. 

Under these optimized conditions, di-tert-butylsilylene could be transferred to a range of acyclic and cyclic olefins (Schemes 7.9 and 7.10).11,74 The method was not sensitive to the steric nature of the R substituent nearly quantitative silylene transfer to olefins bearing ra-butyl, isopropyl, or tert-butyl groups was observed. Vinylsilanes were also tolerated as substrates. Olefins containing silyl ether, benzyl ether, and pivolate substituents were all effective traps of di-tm-butylsilylene. 

Silver-catalyzed silylene transfer to disubstituted olefins was also possible (Scheme 7.10).11,74 The transformation was stereospecific c/s-2-butene afforded cw-dimethylsilacyclopropane 66a and tftmv-2-butene generated tram-dimethylsila-... 

Insight into the mechanism of silver-catalyzed silylene transfer from cyclohexene silacyclopropane to an olefin was obtained using bistriphenylphosphine silver triflate as a catalyst.83 Woerpel and coworkers chose to employ ancillary ligands on silver to address the both the poor solubility of silver triflate as well as its propensity to decompose to afford a silver(0) mirror or precipitate. The addition of triphenylpho-sphine, however, attenuated the reactivity of the silver catalyst. For example, the reaction temperature needed to be raised from —27°C to 10°C to obtain a moderate rate of reaction (Scheme 7.15). 

Scheme 7.15. Effect of phosphine ligand on rate of silylene transfer.

The relative reactivities of various silacyclopropanes were compared to gain insight into the reversibility of the reaction (Scheme 7.16).83 Woerpel and coworkers observed that the reactivity of the silacyclopropane toward the silver catalyst depended on the ring size, and that cyclohexene silacyclopropane was the most reactive. Notably, benzyl-substituted silacyclopropane 63d did not react when exposed to the silver complex. This lack of reactivity was interpreted as evidence in support of the irreversibility of silylene transfer to monosubstituted olefins. 

Scheme 7.17. Kinetic studies on silver-catalyzed silylene transfer.

To elucidate the mechanism of silver-catalyzed silylene transfer, kinetic studies were performed by Woerpel and coworkers (Scheme 7.17).83 The reaction of cyclohexene silacyclopropane 58 and styrene in the presence of 5mol% of (Ph3P)2AgOTf was followed using 1H NMR spectroscopy. The kinetic order in cyclohexene silacyclopropane 58 was determined to be 1. In contrast to the rate acceleration observed with increasing the concentration of 58, inhibition of the rate of the reaction was observed when styrene, cyclohexene, or triphenylphosphine concentrations were increased. Saturation kinetic behavior in catalyst concentration was observed. Activation parameters were determined to be A// = 30(1) kcal/mol and A A 31(7) eu (entropy units). Similar activation parameters were observed in... 

The electronic nature of silylsilver intermediate was interrogated through inter-molecular competition experiments between substituted styrenes and the silylsilver intermediate (77).83 The product ratios from these experiments correlated well with the Hammett equation to provide a p value of —0.62 using op constants (Scheme 7.19). Woerpel and coworkers interpreted this p value to suggest that this silylsilver species is electrophilic. Smaller p values were obtained when the temperature of the intermolecular competition reactions was reduced [p = — 0.71 (8°C) and —0.79 (—8°C)]. From these experiments, the isokinetic temperature was estimated to be 129°C, which meant that the product-determining step of silver-catalyzed silylene transfer was under enthalpic control. In contrast, related intermolecular competition reactions under metal-free thermal conditions indicated the product-determining step of free silylene transfer to be under entropic control. The combination of the observed catalytically active silylsilver intermediate and the Hammett correlation data led Woerpel and colleagues to conclude that the silver functions to both decompose the sacrificial cyclohexene silacyclopropane as well as transfer the di-terf-butylsilylene to the olefin substrate. 

From these observations, Woerpel and Cleary proposed a mechanism to account for allylic silane formation (Scheme 7.23).85 Silacyclopropane 94 is formed from cyclohexene silacyclopropane 58 through silylene transfer. Coordination of the Lewis basic benzyl ether to the electrophilic silicon atom86-88 generates pentacoordinate siliconate 95 and increases the nucleophilicity of the apical Si-C bond.89 Electrophilic attack by silylsilver triflate 96 forms silyl anion 97. Intramolecular deprotonation and elimination then affords the silylmethyl allylic silane. 

Woerpel and Clark identified silver phosphate as the optimal catalyst to promote di-ferf-butylsilylene transfer from cyclohexene silacyclopropane to a variety of substituted alkynes (Scheme 7.25).95 While this silver salt exhibited attenuated reactivity as compared to silver triflate or silver trifluoroacetate, it exhibited greater functional group tolerance. Both di- and monosubstituted silacyclopropenes were easily accessed. Terminal alkynes are traditionally difficult substrates for silylene transfer and typically insert a second molecule of the starting acetylene.61,90 93 Consequently, the discovery of silver-mediated silylene transfer represents a significant advance as it enables further manipulation of monosubstituted silacyclopropenes. For enyne substrates, silylene transfer the alkynyl group was solely observed. The chemoselectivity of the formation of 99f was attributed to ring strain as theoretical calculations suggest that silacyclopropenes are less strained than silacyclopropanes.96 97... 

Isolation of the air-sensitive silacyclopropene was avoided by development of a two-step, one-flask procedure, which transformed alkynes into the desired azasilacyclopentadienes (Scheme 7.29)." For terminal alkynes, silver phosphate was employed for di-terf-butylsilylene transfer and copper(I) triflate was used to promote nitrile insertion. These conditions successfully transformed phenylacetylene into azasilacyclopentadiene 106b. For internal alkynes, copper(I) triflate catalyzed both silylene transfer to 3-hexyne as well as nitrile insertion to produce enamine 106k. 

When silylene transfer was attempted to alkynes substituted with halides or sulfones, however, silacyclopropene formation was not observed.101 Instead, acetylenic silanes 113 were observed (Scheme 7.32). Treatment of silacyclopropene 112c (or 112d) with acetophenone and substoichiometric amounts of Cul also induced alkyne formation. 

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