Silylarene Hydrogenation: A Strategic Approach that Enables Direct Access to Versatile Silylated Saturated Carbo- and Heterocycles

Article abstract of DOI:10.1002/anie.201804124

We report a method to convert readily available silylated arenes into silylated saturated carbo- and heterocycles by arene hydrogenation. The scope includes alkoxy- and halosilyl substituents. Silyl groups can be derivatized into a plethora of functionalities and find application in organic synthesis, materials science, and pharmaceutical, agrochemical, and fragrance research. However, silylated saturated (hetero-) cycles are difficult to access with current technologies. The yield of the hydrogenation depends on the amount of the silica gel additive. This silica effect also enables a significant improvement of a previously disclosed method for the hydrogenation of highly fluorinated arenes (e.g., to all-cis-C₆H₆F₆).