Three events occurred in the second half of 1946 in three adjoining US States (NJ, NY, and PA) which marked the birth of Hydrosilylation Technology. They occurred before the landmark 1957 JACS paper ...and the 1958 issued US patent by Speier et al. and before Chalk and Harrod named the reaction. First, on 27 June 1946, Mackenzie et al., of Montclair Research Corp., applied for a patent to prepare addition compounds of hydridosilanes and unsaturated organic compounds. Then, on 9 October 1946, Wagner and Strother of Union Carbide Corp. applied for a patent on a process to produce organic compounds of silicon with Si–C bonds by reacting a hydridosilane and an alkene or alkyne in the presence of a catalyst metal of the platinum group. Finally, Sommer et al., submitted a paper on peroxide-catalyzed hydrosilylation to JACS on 17 December 1946. It was published in January 1947. The landmark patent interference § and priority § case law associated with the Mackenzie et al. and Wagner et al., applications is well known to patent attorneys. This presentation will retrace the origins of hydrosilylation and report events (1946–1960) in the history of the reaction that are most probably unknown to most authors and presenters of hydrosilylation investigations. George Wagner’s contribution to the birth of this technology is also highlighted.
Alkene hydrosilylation, the addition of a silicon hydride (Si-H) across a carbon-carbon double bond, is one of the largest-scale industrial applications of homogeneous catalysis and is used in the ...commercial production of numerous consumer goods. For decades, precious metals, principally compounds of platinum and rhodium, have been used as catalysts for this reaction class. Despite their widespread application, limitations such as high and volatile catalyst costs and competing side reactions have persisted. Here, we report that well-characterized molecular iron coordination compounds promote the selective anti-Markovnikov addition of sterically hindered, tertiary silanes to alkenes under mild conditions. These Earth-abundant base-metal catalysts, coordinated by optimized bis(imino) pyridine ligands, show promise for industrial application.
The aryl-substituted bis(imino)pyridine cobalt methyl complex, (MesPDI)CoCH3 (MesPDI = 2,6-(2,4,6-Me3C6H2-NCMe)2C5H3N), promotes the catalytic dehydrogenative silylation of linear α-olefins to ...selectively form the corresponding allylsilanes with commercially relevant tertiary silanes such as (Me3SiO)2MeSiH and (EtO)3SiH. Dehydrogenative silylation of internal olefins such as cis- and trans-4-octene also exclusively produces the allylsilane with the silicon located at the terminus of the hydrocarbon chain, resulting in a highly selective base-metal-catalyzed method for the remote functionalization of C–H bonds with retention of unsaturation. The cobalt-catalyzed reactions also enable inexpensive α-olefins to serve as functional equivalents of the more valuable α, ω-dienes and offer a unique method for the cross-linking of silicone fluids with well-defined carbon spacers. Stoichiometric experiments and deuterium labeling studies support activation of the cobalt alkyl precursor to form a putative cobalt silyl, which undergoes 2,1-insertion of the alkene followed by selective β-hydrogen elimination from the carbon distal from the large tertiary silyl group and accounts for the observed selectivity for allylsilane formation.
Iron dialkyl complexes, N3Fe(CH2SiMe3)2, with three different classes of tridentate, nitrogen-based “N3” ligands, aryl-substituted bis(imino)pyridines, terpyridine, and pyridine bis(oxazoline), have ...been synthesized and evaluated in the catalytic hydrosilylation of olefins with tertiary silanes. The 2,2′:6′,2″-terpyridine (terpy) complex, (terpy)Fe(CH2SiMe3)2, was prepared either via alkylation of (terpy)FeCl2 with LiCH2SiMe3 or by pyridine displacement from (pyridine)2Fe(CH2SiMe3)2 by free terpyridine. The aryl-substituted bis(imino)pyridine compounds, (RPDI)Fe(CH2SiMe3)2 (RPDI = 2,6-(2,6-R2-C6H3NCMe)2C5H3N), with smaller 2,6-dialkyl substituents (R = Et, Me) or a 2- i Pr substituent (2‑iPrPDI)Fe(CH2SiMe3)2 (2‑iPrPDI = 2,6-(2- i Pr-C6H4NCMe)2C5H3N, are effective precursors (0.5 mol %) for the anti-Markovnikov hydrosilylation of 1-octene with (Me3SiO)2MeSiH and (EtO)3SiH over the course of 1 h at 60 °C. No hydrosilylation activity was observed with Et3SiH. The most hindered member of the series, ( iPrPDI)Fe(CH2SiMe3)2, and the pyridine bis(oxazoline) iron compound, (R,R)-( iPrPybox)Fe(CH2SiMe3)2 ( iPrPybox = 2,6-bisisopropyl-2-oxazolin-2-ylpyridine), were inactive for the hydrosilylation of 1-octene with all tertiary silanes studied. By contrast, the terpyridine precursor, (terpy)Fe(CH2SiMe3)2, reached >95% conversion at 60 °C with Et3SiH and (Me3SiO)2MeSiH. In addition, the hydrosilylation of vinylcyclohexene oxide was accomplished in the presence of 1.0 mol % (terpy)Fe(CH2SiMe3)2, demonstrating functional group compatibility unique to this compound that is absent from bis(imino)pyridine iron compounds. The electronic structures of all three classes of iron dialkyl compounds have been evaluated by a combination of X-ray diffraction, magnetochemistry, Mössbauer spectroscopy, and density functional theory calculations. All of the compounds are best described as high-spin iron(III) compounds with antiferromagnetic coupling to chelate radical anions.
The influence of a backbone microstructure on the side chain crystallization of a comb‐like polymer is analyzed systematically using a tailor‐made random versus block siloxane copolymer system. While ...the side alkyl chains of the random siloxane undergo a stepwise order–disorder (OD) transition to form well‐ordered orthorhombic structure at low temperature, the packing structure of the alkyl chains pertaining to the block siloxane maintains their original hexagonal lattice up to a temperature of as low as 173 K. The unit lattice ordering of side alkyl chains in the random siloxane polymer is also accompanied by a major restructuring of the backbone conformation ultimately losing out long range ordered structure in the solid state. The OD transitions of side alkyl chains and their dynamic relationship with the backbone conformation are established unambiguously by a combination of temperature dependent small‐angle X‐ray and wide‐angle X‐ray scattering techniques. The observed conformational variations in random versus block polymers are explicitly discussed in terms of molecular chain mobility and theory of macromolecular chain conformation.
How controlling the backbone microstructure reinforces the structural stability of alkyl polysiloxane is unveiled. The discovery that the induced rigidity in the block copolymer refrains the alkyl chains from undergoing a polymorphic change unlike its random counterpart, relates to the fundamental aspect of backbone flexibility on side chain crystallization.
Aryl-substituted bis(imino)pyridine iron dinitrogen complexes are active for the hydrosilylation of 1,2,4-trivinylcyclohexane with tertiary alkoxy silanes, a process used in the manufacture of low ...rolling resistance tires. The iron compounds exhibit unprecedented selectivity for the monohydrosilylation of the desired 4-alkene that far exceeds results obtained with commercially used platinum compounds.
Trichlorosilane is the key intermediate for the large‐scale production of polycrystalline silicon in the Siemens and Union Carbide processes. Both processes, however, are highly inefficient, and over ...two thirds of the trichlorosilane employed is converted to unwanted silicon tetrachloride accumulating in millions of tons per year on a global scale. In this combined experimental and theoretical study we report an energetically and environmentally benign synthetic protocol for the highly selective conversion of SiCl4 to HSiCl3 using organohydridosilanes as recyclable hydrogen transfer reagents in combination with onium chlorides as efficient catalysts. We put the same protocol to further use demonstrating the quantitative conversion of higher oligosilane residues, which form as another unwanted and potentially hazardous byproduct of Siemens processes, to HSiCl3 in a low‐temperature recycling step.
Millions of tons of SiCl4 are being incinerated every year – simply due to a lack of alternatives. What if we could reintroduce this unwelcome by‐product of the polysilicon production back into the supply chain? We present a selective and quantitative protocol to re‐convert SiCl4 to HSiCl3 under ambient conditions.
Trichlorosilane is the key intermediate for the large-scale production of polycrystalline silicon in the Siemens and Union Carbide processes. Both processes, however, are highly inefficient, and over ...two thirds of the trichlorosilane employed is converted to unwanted silicon tetrachloride accumulating in millions of tons per year on a global scale. In this combined experimental and theoretical study we report an energetically and environmentally benign synthetic protocol for the highly selective conversion of SiCl
to HSiCl
using organohydridosilanes as recyclable hydrogen transfer reagents in combination with onium chlorides as efficient catalysts. We put the same protocol to further use demonstrating the quantitative conversion of higher oligosilane residues, which form as another unwanted and potentially hazardous byproduct of Siemens processes, to HSiCl
in a low-temperature recycling step.
The industry‐scale production of methylchloromonosilanes in the Müller–Rochow Direct Process is accompanied by the formation of a residue, the direct process residue (DPR), comprised of disilanes ...MenSi2Cl6‐n (n=1–6). Great research efforts have been devoted to the recycling of these disilanes into monosilanes to allow reintroduction into the siloxane production chain. In this work, disilane cleavage by using alkali and alkaline earth metal salts is reported. The reaction with metal hydrides, in particular lithium hydride (LiH), leads to efficient reduction of chlorine containing disilanes but also induces disproportionation into mono‐ and oligosilanes. Alkali and alkaline earth chlorides, formed in the course of the reduction, specifically induce disproportionation of highly chlorinated disilanes, whereas highly methylated disilanes (n>3) remain unreacted. Nearly quantitative DPR conversion into monosilanes was achieved by using concentrated HCl/ether solutions in the presence of lithium chloride.
Too valuable for disposal or incineration: Simple recycling of the Müller–Rochow Direct Process residue with LiH yields monosilanes suitable for the reintroduction into the silicone production chain.
The Müller–Rochow direct process (DP) for the large‐scale production of methylchlorosilanes MenSiCl4−n (n=1–3) generates a disilane residue (MenSi2Cl6−n, n=1–6, DPR) in thousands of tons annually. ...This report is on methylchlorodisilane cleavage reactions with use of phosphonium chlorides as the cleavage catalysts and reaction partners to preferably obtain bifunctional monosilanes MexSiHyClz (x=2, y=z=1; x,y=1, z=2; x=z=1, y=2). Product formation is controlled by the reaction temperature, the amount of phosphonium chloride employed, the choice of substituents at the phosphorus atom, and optionally by the presence of hydrogen chloride, dissolved in ethers, in the reaction mixture. Replacement of chloro by hydrido substituents at the disilane backbone strongly increases the overall efficiency of disilane cleavage, which allows nearly quantitative silane monomer formation under comparably moderate conditions. This efficient workup of the DPR thus not only increases the economic value of the DP, but also minimizes environmental pollution.
Bifunctional monosilanes are obtained by methylchlorodisilane cleavage reactions with use of phosphonium chlorides as the cleavage catalysts and reaction partners to preferably obtain bifunctional monosilanes. Such reactions increase the overall economic value of the Rochow–Müller direct process and reduce the tremendous amount of globally accumulating disilane side products.
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