Hosomi-Sakurai reactions of silacyclohexenes.

Silacyclic allyl silanes, derived from silene-diene Diels-Alder reactions, combine with acetals in the presence of Lewis acids to afford, following oxidation of the intermediate fluorosilane, either butane-1,4-diols or tetrahydronaphthalenes containing four contiguous chiral centres with moderate to good diastereoselectivity.

Stereochemistry of the reaction of Si-phenyl silenes with butadienes: elaboration of the silacycloadducts to provide a novel route to substituted lactones.

Silenes generated through a silyl-modified Peterson olefination procedure can be trapped with a range of alkyl butadienes via a [4 + 2] cycloaddition pathway to afford silacycles accompanied by variable amounts of competing ene, [2 + 2] and silene dimer by-products. The silacycles are formed with good chemo- and stereo-selectivity and provide access to diols and lactones via a phenyl-triggered Fleming-Tamao oxidation.

Silenes as novel synthetic reagents: identification of a practical method for silene generation and trapping.

The elucidation of a robust and reliable sequence for the generation of highly reactive transient silenes from simple aldehydes is described. The key step involves a silyl-modified Peterson olefination which critically depends on the presence of a sub-stoichiometric amount of soluble lithium salts (LiBr).

Novel one-pot synthesis of aryltris(trimethylsilyl)silanes.

The simple combination of tris(trimethylsilyl)potassium, ArMgBr, and ArBr provides a novel "one-pot" synthesis of aryl(tristrimethylsilyl)silanes. A mechanistic rationale for this conversion is proposed.