Design, Synthesis, and Implementation of Sodium Silylsilanolates as Silyl Transfer Reagents

Abstract

There is an increasing demand for facile delivery of silyl groups onto organic bioactive molecules. One of the common methods of silylation via a transition-metal-catalyzed coupling reaction employs hydrosilane, disilane, and silylborane as major silicon sources. However, the labile nature of the reagents or harsh reaction conditions sometimes render them inadequate for the purpose. Thus, a more versatile alternative source of silyl groups has been desired. We hereby report a design, synthesis, and implementation of storable sodium silylsilanolates that can be used for the silylation of aryl halides and pseudohalides in the presence of a palladium catalyst. The developed method allows a late-stage functionalization of polyfunctionalized compounds with a variety of silyl groups. Mechanistic studies indicate that (1) a nucleophilic silanolate attacks a palladium center to afford a silylsilanolate-coordinated arylpalladium intermediate and (2) a polymeric cluster of silanolate species assists in the intramolecular migration of silyl groups, which would promote an efficient transmetalation.