The initiation mechanisms for surface hydrosilylation with 1-alkenes.

Hydrosilylation provides a route to form substituted silanes in solution. A similar reaction has been observed in the formation of covalent organic monolayers on a hydrogen-terminated silicon surface and is called thermal hydrosilylation. In solution, the mechanism requires a catalyst to add the basal silicon and saturating hydrogen to the C=C double bond. On the silicon surface, however, the reaction proceeds efficiently at 200 °C, initiated by visible light, and more slowly at room temperature in the dark. Such low activation energy barriers for the reactions on a surface relative to that required for solution hydrosilylation are remarkable, and although many explanations have been suggested, controversy still exists. In this work using a constrained molecular dynamics approach within the density functional theory framework, we show that the free energy activation barrier for abstraction of a hydrogen from silicon by an alkene molecule can be overcome by visible light or thermal excitation. Furthermore, we show that by concerted transfer of a hydrogen from the α-carbon to the β-carbon, a 1-alkene can insert its α-carbon into a surface Si-H bond to accomplish hydrosilylation.