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M. Itoh et al. / Journal of Organometallic Chemistry 590 (1999) 36–41
The thermal reactions of SiH4, VC, VS, SiH4ꢁVS,
reaction between :SiH2 and VC would be high, which
would result in a high selectivity for VS. On the other
hand, a low ratio of VC/SiH4 causes low selectivity and
yield even at low conversion, because the side reactions
involving SiH4 would proceed considerably (see Fig. 4).
A part of the produced VS was converted to poly(vinyl-
silane) ([ꢁCH2CH(SiH3)ꢁ]x[ꢁCH2CH2SiH2ꢁ]y) in the re-
actor by radical polymerization reaction [6]. Ethylene
would be produced by the reactions of VS with HCl
and VC (see run nos. 6 and 8 in Table 2).
SiH4ꢁHCl, VCꢁVS, VCꢁHCl and VSꢁHCl were carried
out in order to investigate the reaction mechanism
using the same reaction apparatus. The conversions and
the main products are shown in Table 2.
Several kinds of halogenated hydrocarbons were re-
acted with SiH4 (Table 3). CH2ꢀCHCH2Cl and
CH2ꢀCHBr reacted like VC and gave the silyl com-
pounds (RSiH3). In the case of CH3CH2Cl, C6H5Cl and
CH2ꢀCHF, the silyl compounds were not obtained.
When CCl4 or CH3NO2 was poured with SiH4 and
VC, a radical (·CCl3 or ·CH3) would be produced at a
temperature lower than 450°C, and a silyl radical
(·SiH3) would be produced by the reaction of ·CCl3 or
·CH3 with SiH4, followed by other reactions. The low
yield of silyl compound in the reactions of SiH4 with
CH3CH2Cl, C6H5Cl and CH2ꢀCHF suggests that the
species (:SiR2) formed by the reaction between :SiH2
and hydrocarbon would not be obtained, but the exact
reason for this result is not obvious. The correlation
curves of yield, conversion and selectivity were quite the
same in any reactor. The reaction results depended on
the volume of the reactor, so most of the reaction
would occur in the gas phase, not on the surface of the
reactor.
4. Discussion
There have been many reports about the dehydro-
halogenation reaction between hydrosilanes (HnSiY4−n
,
wherein Y=Cl, phenyl or alkyl) and halogenated hy-
drocarbons (RX, wherein X=Cl [13], Br [14,15] or I
[16]). With regard to the reaction between SiH4 and
halogenated hydrocarbons concerning the present re-
port, only a thermal reaction between SiH4 and VC has
been reported [17], but the production of organic silicon
compounds (in this case, VS, divinylsilane and similar
compounds), which the present report discusses, is not
found at all in the above-mentioned report. Perhaps,
the results would be caused by failure in trapping the
compounds of low boiling point. In our experiment, VS
which was identified by IR and GC–MS was the main
product.
4.2. Process of synthesis of 6inylsilane
The following recycle process for synthesizing VS
can be considered. VS (b.p. −22.8°C) would be sepa-
rated by distillation. Unreacted VC (b.p. −13.9°C)
and the products of higher boiling point than VS, such
4.1. Mechanism of the dehydrochlorination reaction
as Si2H6 (b.p. −14.3°C), CH3CH2SiH3 (b.p.
−
CH2ꢀCHSiCl3 and PhSiCl3 were synthesized by the
dehydrochlorination reactions at high temperature
(500–720°C) through a hot tube between HSiCl3 and
CH2ꢀCHCl or C6H5Cl, respectively. The workers con-
cluded that the initial step is homolytic dissociation of
the SiꢁH bond of HSiCl3 to produce the ·SiCl3 radical
and that this is followed by the attack of the radical on
the halogenated hydrocarbon [13] (reaction (4)).
14.0°C), CH2ꢀCHSiH2Cl and (CH2ꢀCH)2SiH2, would
be washed with alkaline water, which results in the
hydration of the hydrosilanes to give the siloxane
polymers, and then VC would be dried through zeolite
and fed to the reactor again. Unreacted SiH4 (b.p.
−112°C), and the products of lower boiling point
than VS, such as H2, CH4, CH2ꢀCH2 (b.p.
−
103.9°C), HCl and H3SiCl (b.p. −30°C), would be
distilled, and SiH4 would be recycled to the reactor.
HCl and H3SiCl would be removed by the washing
with alkaline water, and H2 and CH4 of low boiling
point would be disposed of as industrial waste. A
considerable amount of CH2ꢀCH2 is produced, but it
(4)
Claassen, Bloem and Kuiper et al. reported that the
:SiH2 radical is generated by the thermal decomposition
of SiH4 in the gas phase based on kinetic studies of the
thermal reaction [18]. As shown in Table 2 (run nos. 1
and 2), SiH4 reacted at 475°C, but VC did not react.
Therefore, SiH4 would decompose thermally and would
generate a reactive species of :SiH2, and then it would
induce the next reactions as shown in Fig. 5. From
Table 2, the order of the reaction rates is roughly
VSꢁHCl\SiH4ꢁVS, SiH4, VS, SiH4ꢁHCl, VCꢁVS\
VCꢁHCl, VC. The side reactions involving SiH4 or VS
were fast. At a high ratio of VC/SiH4, the chance of the
,
could be removed by adsorption on 5 A molecular
sieves [19].
Alkynylsilanes having a reactive and useful silyl
group (ꢁSiH3) are usually prepared by the reduction of
the corresponding alkynylchlorosilane using an expen-
sive metal hydride [20]. We offer a new process for
synthesizing a silyl compound using SiH4. The selectiv-
ity for the silyl compound is not sufficient. Further
study is needed for the development of a more effec-
tive process.