Angewandte
Chemie
DOI: 10.1002/anie.200801949
Organosilver Reagents
Silver-Catalyzed Transmetalation between Chlorosilanes and Aryl and
Alkenyl Grignard Reagents for the Synthesis of Tetraorganosilanes**
Kei Murakami, Koji Hirano, Hideki Yorimitsu,* and Koichiro Oshima*
The nucleophilic substitution reaction of chlorosilanes with
organometallic reagents is a fundamental method used for
forming carbon–silicon bonds.[1] The reactions of chlorotrior-
ganosilanes with organolithium reagents generally proceed
smoothly at low temperatures (À788C). On the other hand,
reactions with the less reactive, yet readily available, organo-
magnesium reagents often require prolonged reaction times
and high temperatures (solvent b.p.), and result in moderate
yields of tetraorganosilanes.[2] Herein we report that silver
salts can catalyze the reactions of chlorotriorganosilanes with
organomagnesium reagents to yield a variety of tetraorgano-
silanes efficiently; this reveals a new aspect of silver
catalysis.[3–5]
only 13% yield in the absence of silver nitrate (Table 1,
entry 1). Other silver salts, such as silver halides, acetate, and
triflate, accelerated the carbon–silicon bond formation
(Table 1, entries 3–7). Other Group 11 metal halides, such as
copper(I)bromide and gold(I)chloride, also promoted the
reaction with only slightly lower efficiency (Table 1, entries 8
and 9). Nickel and palladium salts failed to catalyze the
reaction (Table 1, entries 10 and 11).
The Grignard reagent scope was studied and the results
are summarized in Table 2.[7] The reactions with 2-naphthyl,
Table 2: Silver-catalyzed reaction of 1a with various Grignard reagents.
Treatment of chlorodimethylphenylsilane (1a)with p-
tolylmagnesium bromide in the presence of a catalytic
amount of silver nitrate in THF at 208C for 1.5 h provided
the corresponding tetraorganosilane 2a in 93% yield
(Table 1, entry 2).[6] The transformation is regarded as a
Entry
R
t [h]
Product
Yield [%][a]
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
2-naphthyl
p-FC6H4
p-MeOC6H4
p-(iPr3SiO)C6H4
o-MeC6H4
1.5
1.5
1.5
1.5
24
20
4.5
1.5
2b
2c
2d
2e
2 f
2g
2h
2i
71
92
97
96
88
80
78
0
Table 1: Metal-catalyzed reaction of chlorodimethylphenylsilane with
p-tolylmagnesium bromide.
m-CF3C6H4
=
CH2 C(SiMe3)
iPr
[a] Yield of isolated product.
Entry
Catalyst
Yield [%][a]
Entry
Catalyst
Yield [%][a]
1
2
3
4
5
6
none
AgNO3
AgCl
AgBr
AgI
13
7
8
9
10
11
AgOTf
CuBr
AuCl
NiCl2
Pd(OAc)2
83
75
78
24
9
93 (92)[b]
p-fluorophenyl, p-methoxyphenyl, and p-(triisopropylsiloxy)-
phenyl Grignard reagents (Table 2, entries 1–4)proceeded as
smoothly as those described in Table 1. Sterically hindered o-
tolylmagnesium bromide was less reactive, and a prolonged
reaction time was essential for the reaction to proceed to
completion (Table 2, entry 5). An aryl Grignard reagent
having an electron-withdrawing trifluoromethyl group
reacted with chlorosilane 1a slowly in the presence of silver
nitrate (Table 2, entry 6). A bulky alkenylmagnesium reagent
also participated in the reaction (Table 2, entry 7).[8] Unfortu-
nately, attempts to introduce an alkyl group failed because of
the instability of the alkylsilver species (Table 2, entry 8).
The reactions of bulkier chloromethyldiphenylsilane and
chlorotriethylsilane with p-tolylmagnesium bromide under
silver catalysis proceeded to completion after extended
reaction times (Table 3, entries 1 and 2). Chlorosilanes
having an olefinic moiety (Table 3, entries 3 and 4)or a
chloromethyl moiety (Table 3, entry 5)reacted without any
observable side reactions. Notably, the reaction could be
performed on a scale as large as 50 mmol (with respect to 1 f).
Sterically congested chlorotriisopropylsilane failed to react
(Table 3, entry 6).
86
91
86
91
AgOAc
1
[a] Yield was determined by H NMR spectroscopy. [b] Yield of isolated
product. Tf=trifluoromethanesulfonyl.
silver-catalyzed transmetalation reaction between chlorosi-
lane and the Grignard reagent. Notably, 2a was obtained in
[*] K. Murakami, Dr. K. Hirano, Dr. H. Yorimitsu, Prof. Dr. K. Oshima
Department of Material Chemistry
Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University
Kyoto-daigaku Katsura, Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto 615-8510 (Japan)
Fax: (+81)75-383-2438
E-mail: yori@orgrxn.mbox.media.kyoto-u.ac.jp
[**] This work was supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research
from MEXT and JSPS. K.H. acknowledge JSPS for financial support.
Supporting information for this article is available on the WWW
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2008, 47, 5833 –5835
ꢀ 2008 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
5833