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The Study of Low Temperature Silene Generation (open access)

The Study of Low Temperature Silene Generation

The reactions of tert-butyl-, sec-butyl-, and n-butyllithium with dimethylfluorovinylsilane include addition to the double bond to give both silene and silenoid intermediates, fluorine substitution, and a novel vinyl substitution. For the tert-butyllithium reaction, product stereochemistry and trapping experiments using both cyclopentadiene and methoxytrimethylsilane show that silenes are not formed in THF. In hexane about 67% of the 1,3-disilacyclobutanes obtained arise from silene dimerization while 33% are formed by silenoid coupling. In hexane the order of reactivity for addition, t-Bu > sec-Bu > n-Bu, is opposite that for fluorine substitution. The vinyl substitution is most significant with secondary alkyllithium reagents including the tert-butyllithium adduct to dimethylfluorovinylsilane and with sec-butyllithium itself. Evidence for the formation of vinyllithium or ethylene in the process could not be obtained.
Date: August 1985
Creator: Cheng, Albert Home-Been
System: The UNT Digital Library