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DOI:10.15227/orgsyn.070.0164

Organic Syntheses, Coll. Vol. 9, p.738 (1998); Vol. 70, p.164 (1992).

TRIS(TRIMETHYLSILYL)SILANE[Trisilane, 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexamethyl-2-(trimethylsilyl)-]

Submitted by Joachim Dickhaut and Bernd Giese1.
Checked by George A. O'Doherty and Leo A. Paquette.

1. Procedure
Lithium powder (7.55 g, 1.07 mol) is placed in a 500-mL, four-necked flask equipped with acondenser, mechanical stirrer, dropping funnel, and low-temperature thermometer (Note 1) and (Note2). The apparatus is carefully flushed several times with nitrogen followed by the addition of 50 mL ofanhydrous tetrahydrofuran (THF). The reaction flask is cooled to approximately −60°C in a dry iceacetone bath, and a mixture of freshly distilled (from CaH2) chlorotrimethylsilane (54.8 mL, 47.1 g,0.43 mol) and tetrachlorosilane (Note 3) (10.1 mL, 15.0 g, 0.09 mol) in 140 mL of anhydrous THF isadded over 1 hr by dropping funnel so that the temperature of the reaction mixture never exceeds −30°
C. After addition is complete, stirring is continued for 0.5 hr with cooling (Note 4). The gold-brownsuspension is allowed to warm to room temperature and stirred for 12 hr, during which time the color
becomes more intense (Note 5). The thermometer is removed and the mixture is heated to reflux for 2 hr
to destroy the remaining chlorotrimethylsilane. After the condenser is cooled to room temperature, it isreplaced with a nitrogen bubbler and gas inlet. Methyllithium-lithium bromide complex (66 mL, 99mmol, 1.5 M in ether) is added over 3 hr to the grey-brown mixture with vigorous stirring (Note 6).
During the addition a continuous stream of nitrogen is bubbled through the reaction mixture. After thereaction mixture is stirred for an additional 16 hr at room temperature, it acquires a greenish tint.
Hydrolysis is carried out by the careful addition of the reaction mixture to 400 mL of ice-cold 2 Nhydrochloric acid. [CAUTION: The solid residue may be highly pyrophoric. The checkers blanketed theflask with argon prior to the introduction of ether (100 mL) and poured the vigorously stirred slurry
into the cold hydrochloric acid. This rinse procedure was repeated twice more.] The aqueous phase isextracted four times with 200-mL portions of pentane, the combined organic phases are dried overmagnesium sulfate and the solvents removed under reduced pressure. Distillation under reducedpressure (1 mm, 38°C) affords 13.4–17.2 g of the product as a clear oil (60–77% yield).

2. Notes
1. The checkers used a three-necked flask having one arm equipped with a Claisen head.
2. All reagents were purchased from Fluka Chemical Corporation, except the methyllithium-lithium
bromide complex, which was purchased from Aldrich Chemical Company, Inc., and were used without
further purification. The lithium powder can be weighed in air; however, the use of a dust mask isrecommended.
3. As tetrachlorosilane smokes strongly when exposed to air, introduction to the addition funnel is best
carried out using a syringe.
4. If the temperature falls below −60°C, the mixture may solidify, but returns to a liquid upon warming.
5. The synthesis should be carried out over three days, stirring the mixture overnight. The stirring times
reported should be considered a minimum, and need not be followed exactly.
6. A clean dropping funnel should be used for the addition of the methyllithium solution, and should be
filled with rigorous exclusion of air. It is simpler to employ a syringe pump, and replace the dropping
funnel with a septum. In this case the stream of nitrogen can be introduced by a needle through theseptum.

Waste Disposal Information
All toxic materials were disposed of in accordance with "Prudent Practices in the Laboratory";
National Academy Press; Washington, DC, 1995.

3. Discussion
Tris(trimethylsilyl)silane 1 can be substituted for toxic stannanes like tributyl-stannane 2 in organic
syntheses which involve radicals,2 because: a) silyl radicals are as efficient as stannyl radicals in theradical-forming step,3 and b) the Si-H bond strength in tris(trimethylsilyl)silane 1 is only slightly higher
than the Sn-H bond strength in tributylstannane 2.4
Bond energy (kcal/mol):Thus, heating a mixture of an organic bromide or iodide with equimolar amounts of silane 1 andcatalytic amounts of a radical initiator like azobisisobutyronitrile gives organic radicals 3 that canundergo addition, cyclization or rearrangement reactions2 (34) before hydrogen abstraction5 yields
the product.

Tris(trimethylsilyl)silane 1is a mediator in this reaction. In contrast to the reported method,6 thesynthesis described in this procedure gives silane 1 in high yields in a one-pot reaction.

References and Notes
1. Institute of Organic Chemistry, University of Basel, St. Johanns-Ring 19, CH-4056 Basel,Switzerland.
2. Giese, B.; Kopping, B.; Chatgilialoglu, C. Tetrahedron Lett. 1989, 30, 681; Kulicke, K. J.; Giese,B. Synlett. 1990, 91.
3. Ballestri, M.; Chatgilialoglu, C.; Clark, K. B.; Griller, D.; Giese, B.; Kopping, B. J. Org. Chem.
1991, 56, 678.
4. Kanabus-Kaminska, J. M.; Hawari, J. A.; Griller, D.; Chatgilialoglu, C. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1987,109, 5267.
5. Chatgilialoglu, C.; Griller, D.; Lesage, M. J. Org. Chem. 1988, 53, 3641.
6. Gilman, H.; Smith, C. L. J. Organometal. Chem. 1968, 14, 91; Gutekunst, G.; Brook, A. G. J.
Organometal. Chem. 1982, 225, 1; Bürger, H.; Kilian, W. J. Organomet. Chem. 1969, 18, 299.

Appendix
Chemical Abstracts Nomenclature (Collective Index Number);(Registry Number)hydrochloric acid (7647-01-0)
ether (60-29-7)hydrogen (1333-74-0)
nitrogen (7727-37-9)
Pentane (109-66-0)
lithium (7439-93-2)
magnesium sulfate (7487-88-9)
Tetrahydrofuran (109-99-9)
Methyllithium (917-54-4)
argon (7440-37-1)
tributylstannane,
tributyl-stannane (688-73-3)
tetrachlorosilane (10026-04-7)
CHLOROTRIMETHYLSILANE (75-77-4)
Methyllithium-lithium bromide (332360-06-2)
azobisisobutyronitrile (78-67-1)
Tris(trimethylsilyl)silane,
Trisilane, 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexamethyl-2-(trimethylsilyl)- (1873-77-4)
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