Isolation and Versatile Derivatization of an Unsaturated Anionic Silicon Cluster (Siliconoid).

The characteristic features of bulk silicon surfaces are echoed in the related partially substituted-and thus unsaturated-neutral silicon clusters (siliconoids). The incorporation of siliconoids into more-extended frameworks is promising owing to their unique electronic features, but further developments in this regard are limited by the notable absence of functionalized siliconoid derivatives until now. Herein we report the isolation and full characterization of the lithium salt of an anionic R5 Si6 -siliconoid, thus providing the missing link between silicon-based Zintl anions and siliconoid clusters.

Contraction and expansion of the silicon scaffold of stable Si6R6 isomers.

The reactivity of two stable Si(6)R(6) clusters (4 and 5, R = 2,4,6-(i)Pr(3)C(6)H(2)) with unsymmetrical substitution patterns (including Si, SiR, and SiR(2) vertices) is reported. In order to account for the importance of such clusters as model systems for transient intermediates in the deposition of elemental silicon, we here propose the term "siliconoids" for silicon clusters with unsaturated valencies. With the hexasilaprismane 8a, a saturated-i.

The Cp*Si+ cation as a stoichiometric source of silicon.

The Cp*Si(+) cation acts as a stoichiometric source of silicon in the reaction with the disilenide Tip(2)Si=Si(Tip)Li (Tip = 2,4,6-(i)Pr(3)C(6)H(2)) affording known neutral unsaturated silicon clusters. It thereby provides a conceptually different approach to this novel class of compounds. The proposed mechanism involves a Cp*-substituted cyclotrisilene in which Cp*(-) acts as a leaving group upon single electron reduction or in a nucleophilic substitution step.

Transmetallation reactions of a lithium disilenide.

The first magnesium, copper and zinc disilenides were prepared via transmetallation reactions of a lithium disilenide and structurally characterised. The copper and zinc derivatives show red-shifted UV/vis absorptions due to admixture of metal d-orbitals to the highest occupied molecular orbital.

Synthesis, characterisation and complexation of phosphino disilenes.

The treatment of disilenide Tip2SiSi(Tip)Li (1, Tip = 2,4,6-iPr3C6H2) with P-chloro phosphines affords the phosphino disilenes (2a-d; a: R = Ph, b: R = iPr, c: R = Cy, d: R = tBu), which were characterised by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy for 2a-d and a single crystal X-ray diffraction study in case of 2c. As an alternate synthetic method, the diphenyl derivative 2a could also be prepared by reaction of LiPPh2 with the thermally unstable iododisilene, Tip2SiSi(Tip)I (3), which in turn was obtained by oxidation of 1 with stoichiometric amounts of iodine. Providing the first example for a SiSi bond with an iodo functionality, disilene 3 was fully characterised by multinuclear NMR and X-ray diffraction.

A tricyclic aromatic isomer of hexasilabenzene.

Benzene represents the showcase of Hückel aromaticity. The silicon analog, hexasilabenzene, has consequently been targeted for decades. We now report an intensely green isomer of Si6R6 (R being 2,4,6-triisopropylphenyl) with a tricyclic structure in the solid state featuring silicon atoms with two, one, and no substituents outside the ring framework.

Syntheses of trisila analogues of allyl chlorides and their transformations to chlorocyclotrisilanes, cyclotrisilanides, and a trisilaindane.

The rearrangements of (chlorosilyl)disilenes R2(Cl)Si-(Tip)Si=SiTip2 (5a,b: Tip = 2,4,6-iPr3C6H2, a: R = Me, b: R = Ph) quantitatively yield the isomeric chlorocyclotrisilanes (6a,b). The disilene precursors 5a,b are, in turn, accessible from the reactions of the disilenide Tip2Si=Si(Tip)Li (1), that is, a disila analogue to vinyl anions, with dichlorosilanes R2SiCl2. This novel approach to cyclotrisilanes potentially allows for the facile variation of the substitution pattern and grants access to the first anionic derivatives; while the rearrangement of 5a,b to 6a,b is slow at room temperature and additionally requires the presence of THF or other n-donors, reduction of 5b with lithium instantly yields the corresponding cyclotrisilanide (7b) without detection of any open-chained isomer.