Job/Unit: Z14122
/KAP1
Date: 30-04-14 12:50:05
Pages: 8
Metastable SiIIX2 Solutions (X = F, Cl)
30 min to ca. 1300 °C. Afterwards the reactor was further heated to
the working temperature e.g. 1440 °C in the case of SiCl2. Afterwards,
SiX4 gas was passed through the reactor and the resulting gaseous
compounds were condensed together with a solvent mixture at a
–196 °C cold surface. The amount of SiX4 was measured by a flow
controller; thereby 20 mmol of SiX4 were used over the period of ca.
2 h, where additionally ca. 150 mL of solvent were condensed. Sub-
sequently heating was switched off and after the removal of the liquid
nitrogen cooling the whole apparatus was flushed with nitrogen gas
4.8. The reaction chamber was heated with dry ice to –78 °C. After
When a cold sample of the solution (ca. 4 mmol of silicon)
is reacted with the bulky carbene Idipp [Idipp = 1,3-bis(2,6-
iPr2-C6H3)imidazol-2-ylidene] we observe the formation of
SiCl2-Idipp (3), which can be identified by its proton NMR
signals. Hence the proton NMR spectrum of the reaction mix-
ture is in line with a 1:1 mixture of free carbene and 3. Thus
only 50% of the SiCl2 seems to be available for adduct forma-
tion. We were also able to crystallize Idipp-SiCl2 (3), which
is obtained as a second polymorph, i.e. it crystallizes in the
monoclinic crystal system in space group P21/n with one mole- the matrix melted the resulting solution was transferred by a steel can-
nula with nitrogen overpressure into a dry ice cooled Schlenk vessel.
cule in the asymmetric unit. However no differences concern-
ing Si–Cl and Si–C bond lengths are present with respect to
the previously published structure.[26]
Synthesis of SiF4[C(NiPrCH)2]2 (1, 1a): 1,3-Diisopropylimidazo-2-
ylidene (600 mg, 1 equiv., 4 mmol) was dissolved in toluene (20 mL)
at –78 °C and stirred for 10 min. To this solution the –78 °C cold SiF2
solution [20 mL, 40% SiF2, toluene/P(nBu)3, 4 mmol Si] were added
rapidly. The reaction mixture was warmed within 2 h to room tempera-
ture. After removal of all volatiles the remaining solid was washed
3 times with pentane (20 mL) and dried in vacuo to obtain 350 mg
(0.857 mmol, 21.4%) of pale beige solid. Crystallization of the solid
from thf gave colorless hexagonal plates of 1, while crystallization
from toluene gave rhombic plates of 1a. When the hexagonal crystals
were filtered off and dried in vacuo they got turbid, leading to a pale
yellow powder indicating that the crystal thf was evaporated. NMR
spectra of the powder indicated that only half a thf molecule per 1 was
left in the solid (NMR spectra are shown in the Supporting Infor-
mation) which is in line with results of the elemental analysis of this
Summary and Outlook
With respect to thermodynamic calculations SiF2 and SiCl2
should be obtained in maximum yield by the reaction of SiX4
(X = F, Cl) with elemental silicon at a reaction temperature of
1377 °C and 1077 °C, respectively, by a reaction pressure of
0.01 mbar. The synthesis of SiF2 and SiCl2 is done via a pre-
parative co-condensation reaction, where the high temperature
reaction is performed at 1510 °C for SiF2 and 1440 °C for
SiCl2 leading to quantitative yield of the silicon(II) halide in
the gas phase. The gaseous compounds are then condensed
together with a mixture of an inert solvent and a donor compo-
nent, e.g. toluene/P(nBu)3 at –196 °C to give a solid matrix.
After melting of the matrix a metastable solution of the subhal-
ide is obtained. In the case of the reaction system SiF4 / Si we
could show that at lower reaction temperatures a high amount
of SiF4 remains, which can be isolated from the solution after
reaction with the N-heterocyclic carbene C(NiPrCH)2 as the
bis-carbene adduct SiF4[C(NiPrCH)2]2, which crystallizes in
two different polymorphs (1 and 1b), where the carbene li-
gands are oriented planar or perpendicular to each other. SiF2
seems to be too reactive to be trapped by stabilizing ligands
and further experiments applying different solvents and donor
molecules during the co-condensation reaction are necessary to
transfer this subhalide from the gas phase to a useable reagent.
However in the case of SiCl2 the solvent mixture toluene/
P(nBu)3 seems useful to obtain a metastable solution of the
subhalide SiCl2. Thereby the reaction with the bulky carbene
Idipp gives Idipp-SiCl2 (3), which is also available by a dif-
ferent route using standard synthetic procedures as it has been
lately shown by Roesky et al.[7] However before trapping with
the carbene the subhalide solution shows a high intrinsic reac-
tivity,[27] which might be used in further applications, which
has to be shown in future experiments.
1
3
solid. H NMR (C6D6, 250 MHz, TMS ext.): δ = 1.25 (d, 24 H, J =
6.8 Hz, CHMe2), 6.37 [s, 4 H, J(1H29Si) = 190 Hz, CH], 6.40 (sept,
4
4 H, CHMe2) ppm. 13C NMR (C6D6, 62.9 MHz, TMS ext.): δ = 24.1
(CHMe2), 49.9 [4J(13C19F) = 4.3 Hz, CHMe2], 115.7 (CH), 171.1
[2J(13C19F) = 61.6 Hz, NCN] ppm. 19F NMR (C6D6, 376.48 MHz,
CFCl3 ext.): δ = –102.5 [1J(19F29Si) = 187.4, 2J(19F13C) = 61.5 Hz]
ppm. 29Si NMR (C6D6, 99.36 MHz, TMS ext.): δ = –182.3 [1J(29Si19F)
= 186.3 Hz] ppm. C18H32F4N2Si·0.5THF: calcd.: C 54.03, H 8.16, N
12.60%; found: C 53.93, H 8.03, N 12.28%.
Synthesis of SiCl2-Idipp (3): Bis(2,6-Diisopropylphenyl)imidazo-2-
ylidene (1.55 g, 1 equiv., 4 mmol) was dissolved in toluene (40 mL) at
–78 °C and stirred for 10 min. To this solution the –78 °C cold SiCl2
solution (20 mL, 100% SiCl2 in toluene/P(nBu)3, 4 mmol) was added
rapidly. The reaction mixture was warmed within 2 h to room tempera-
ture. After removal of all volatiles the yellowish solid was washed 3
times with pentane (20 mL) and dried in vacuo (940 mg). Slightly yel-
low crystals of 3 were formed in a concentrated toluene solution at
1
3
–30 °C. H NMR (C6D6, 400 MHz, TMS ext.): δ = 1.01 (d, 12 H, J
3
= 7.0 Hz, CHMe2), 1.43 (d, 12 H, J = 6.7 Hz, CHMe2), 2.79 (sept, 4
H, J = 6.8 Hz, CHMe2), 6.36 (s, 2 H, CH), 7.07 (d, 4 H, 3J = 7.9 Hz,
m-HPh), 7.22 (t, 2 H, J = 7.7 Hz, p-HPh) ppm.
3
3
Crystallographic data (excluding structure factors) for the structures in
this paper have been deposited with the Cambridge Crystallographic
Data Centre, CCDC, 12 Union Road, Cambridge CB21EZ, UK. Copies
of the data can be obtained free of charge on quoting the depository
numbers CCDC-991359 (1), CCDC-991360 (1b), and CCDC-991358
(3) (Fax: +44-1223-336-033; E-Mail: deposit@ccdc.cam.ac.uk, http://
www.ccdc.cam.ac.uk).
Experimental Section
Procedure of the Co-Condensation: The co-condensation reaction
was performed within a homemade co-condensation apparatus which
has been described elsewhere.[28] The apparatus was evacuated with an
oil diffusion pump (Balzers Diff 900) to a pressure of 5ϫ10–6 mbar. In
Crystallographic data and structure refinement results are summarized
in Table 3.
a modified graphite reactor (Scheme 1) elemental silicon was placed. Supporting Information (see footnote on the first page of this article):
For bake-out the graphite reactor was first heated inductively for Pictures of the thermal behavior of different SiCl2 solutions and of the
Z. Anorg. Allg. Chem. 0000, 0–0
© 0000 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
5