Hydrosilylation with Platinum Catalysts
Organometallics, Vol. 21, No. 10, 2002 2077
Prior to use, the two components must be mixed
together in a well-defined ratio to initiate the cross-
linking reaction which yields the desired silicone rubber
material. A major disadvantage of such addition curing
systems is the necessity to handle two separate com-
ponents during the whole process from manufacturing
and packaging to mixing.
rod mechanism.15 Recent ab initio studies16-19 of the bis-
(phosphine)platinum(0)-catalyzed hydrosilylation of eth-
ylene by silane have covered the full Chalk-Harrod
cycle (oxidative addition of SiH4 to Pt(PH3)2, coordina-
tion of C2H4, ethylene insertion into Pt-H, and reduc-
tive elimination of H3Si-C2H5). They have provided
much detailed insight into these reactions and have
shown in particular that the Chalk-Harrod cycle is
energetically feasible (with a maximum barrier of about
22 kcal/mol) and preferred over a modified Chalk-
Harrod cycle with ethylene insertion into the Pt-Si
bond even if cis-trans isomerization of the intermedi-
ates is taken into account.16-18
The present paper investigates possible initial trans-
formations of the (pre)catalyst (COD)Pt(CCR)2 that
allow access to the Chalk-Harrod cycle. The next
section describes the computational methods used. In
the following sections, we report the theoretical results
and discuss them in the context of the available experi-
mental evidence.
Consequently there have been many attempts to
provide an addition-cross-linking silicone material as a
one-component formulation with an extended work life
at ambient temperature and a rapid cure at elevated
temperature. The central problem in the development
of one-component systems is to suppress any premature
cross-linking, which usually occurs already at room
temperature in the presence of the platinum catalyst.
One possible solution is the use of inhibitors1,9,10 which
can form complexes with the catalyst; this reduces its
activity at room temperature considerably, but may also
impair the activity at higher temperatures due to
incomplete decomplexation, which may cause low cross-
linking rates or even incomplete cure. A second ap-
proach is the encapsulation of the platinum catalyst in
a finely divided material such as a thermoplastic silicone
resin, an organic thermoplast, or a cyclodextrine,1,11,12
which does not release the catalyst until a certain
temperature is reached; problems with this approach
include the large size of the capsules (preventing the
formation of stable suspensions) and the sudden release
of locally high catalyst doses (resulting in inhomoge-
neous cross-linking). A third method is the design of new
classes of platinum catalysts that show essentially no
hydrosilylation activity at ambient temperatures and
high curing rates above a tunable kick-off temperature,
thus combining pot lives of several months with high
curing rates.13 One of the best examples for such
catalysts are bis(alkynyl)(1,5-cyclooctadiene)platinum
complexes (COD)Pt(CCR)2.14
Com p u ta tion a l Meth od s
The quantum-chemical calculations were carried out using
density functional theory (DFT).20 They employed the gradient-
corrected BP86 functional which combines the Becke ex-
change21 and Perdew correlation22 functionals. For platinum
we used a small-core quasirelativistic effective core potential
with the associate (8s7p6d)/[6s5p3d] valence basis set con-
tracted according to a (311111/22111/411) scheme.23 The other
elements were represented by the 6-31G(d) basis24 with one
set of d polarization functions at all non-hydrogen atoms.
Spherical d functions were used throughout. Unless noted
otherwise, geometries were optimized without symmetry
constraints. Transition states were normally located using the
synchronous transit-guided quasi-Newton (STQN) method.25
Force constants were computed for all stationary points to
establish their character. All calculations were performed
using the Gaussian98 program.26
For a rational optimization of these new platinum
(pre)catalysts, it is essential to understand how they
work and, in particular, how they are activated at
higher temperatures. Given the complexity of the real
systems that are used industrially, an experimental
study of the underlying reaction mechanisms is difficult.
We have therefore decided to investigate suitable model
systems computationally using density functional theory
in order to identify possible modes of reaction.
Resu lts
In our computational studies, the precatalyst is
represented by the parent (1,5-cyclooctadiene)bis(ethy-
nyl)platinum complex (COD)Pt(CCH)2, and the reac-
tants are modeled by trimethylsilane, HSiMe3, and
ethylene, C2H4. This is clearly a severe simplification
of the real system, which contains a substituted pre-
catalyst (COD)Pt(CCR)2 (where R is normally aryl) and
It is commonly accepted that the transition metal
catalyzed hydrosilylation proceeds by the Chalk-Har-
(15) Chalk, A. J .; Harrod, J . F. J . Am. Chem. Soc. 1965, 87, 16-21.
(16) Sakaki, S.; Mizoe, N.; Sugimoto, M. Organometallics 1998, 17,
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M.; Kurita, A. U.S. Pat. 4,329,275, 1982. (b) Sasaki, S.; Hamada, Y.
U.S. Pat. 4,603,168, 1986. (c) Michel, U.; Delker, J . R. U.S. Pat.
4,530,989, 1985. (d) Shirahata, A.; Shosaku, S. U.S. Pat. 4,465,818,
1984. (e) Cavezzan, J . U.S. Pat. 4,595,739 (1986). (f) Kniege, W.; Michel,
W.; Ackerman, J .; Randolph, K. H. U.S. Pat. 4,487,906, 1984. (g) J anik,
G.; Buentello, M. U.S. Pat. 4,487,906, 1984. (h) Lo, P. Y. K. U.S. Pat.
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2000, 38, 35-42. (b) Kishi, K.; Ishimaru, T.; Ozono, M.; Tomita, I.;
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Togashi, A.; Kasuya, A. Eur. Pat. Appl. 449,181, 1991. (b) Fujioka, K.;
Yashida, Y. U.S. Pat. 5, 525,425, 1996.
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Inorg. Organomet. Polym. 1996, 6, 123-144.
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Molecules; Oxford University Press: Oxford, 1989.
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